🔁Mario Nawfal:
SEA ICE MELT IS CHANGING THE COLOR OF THE OCEAN — AND LIFE BELOW IT
The Arctic isn’t just losing ice — it’s losing light, too. And not in the way you think.
As global warming melts sea ice, more sunlight enters the ocean — but it’s not the same light.
Ice lets through a soft rainbow of colors.
Open water filters most of that out, leaving only a harsh blue glow.
Tiny algae and phytoplankton, the base of the marine food web, depend on that full spectrum to survive.
They’ve evolved pigments perfectly tuned to light under ice.
When that ice melts, they’re suddenly in a blue-dominated world they didn’t evolve for.
That means photosynthesis falters. Species shift.
And the ripple effect hits everything from fish to seabirds to marine mammals.
It could even shrink the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide — a crucial buffer against climate change.
The ocean is still blue. But the life it supports may not be for long.
Source: SciTech Daily
https://x.com/MarioNawfal/... https://x.com/MarioNawfal/...
SEA ICE MELT IS CHANGING THE COLOR OF THE OCEAN — AND LIFE BELOW IT
The Arctic isn’t just losing ice — it’s losing light, too. And not in the way you think.
As global warming melts sea ice, more sunlight enters the ocean — but it’s not the same light.
Ice lets through a soft rainbow of colors.
Open water filters most of that out, leaving only a harsh blue glow.
Tiny algae and phytoplankton, the base of the marine food web, depend on that full spectrum to survive.
They’ve evolved pigments perfectly tuned to light under ice.
When that ice melts, they’re suddenly in a blue-dominated world they didn’t evolve for.
That means photosynthesis falters. Species shift.
And the ripple effect hits everything from fish to seabirds to marine mammals.
It could even shrink the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide — a crucial buffer against climate change.
The ocean is still blue. But the life it supports may not be for long.
Source: SciTech Daily
https://x.com/MarioNawfal/... https://x.com/MarioNawfal/...
6 days ago
