For more than 400 years, seas of a mysterious phenomenon seem to be the ocean shining to where the scene reaches.
J. Bronskel, official on board the SS IXION, which sailed across the Arab Sea in 1967: “The sea, from Horizon to Horizon in all directions, acquired the shine of the phosphorste … the moon had just settled and the whole sea was lighter than the sky.”
After about 10 years, another crew, on board the MV Westmorland, witnessed a similar event in the same area. According to Captain PW PRICE, the ship crossed a “large area of vital shine”.
He wrote in the 1976 letter: “The sea … shone in intense and bright green. In fact, in fact, it was not possible to distinguish between waves or sea movement – everything looked a completely flat surface.”
These events, called “SEAS SEAS” by sailors who were lucky to their viewers, were very difficult to study because of scarcity and the fact that they occur in remote ocean areas, where there are a few people to monitor them.
Now, scientists who seek to investigate these strange phenomena are more depth one step closer to predicting the date and location of these mysterious exhibitions of biomedus.
Justin Hudson, a PhD student in the Department of Air Cover Sciences at Colorado State University, collected more than 400 known reports on the “Milky Way”-including Bronskel and Breis to create a new database in the future, for researchers *.
“I hope that with this database, more people can start studying” milky seas “and detecting this puzzle “This was present for centuries,” said Hudson, the main author of the new research.
He added that more in -depth studies on “SEAS SEAS” can help in answering many questions that are still about this phenomenon, how it happens and what you can mean to marine life.
He said: “SUCICH SEAS can be a sign of something like a good and healthy ecosystem. It can be a sign of an ecosystems – and we do not know.”
“And just as we can predict the date and location of their occurrence, we can start answering these questions about the place that suits this phenomenon, all of our global and interconnected terrestrial system.”
Biological bacteria
Observers often describe the “brown seas” as similar, in colors, for the stars that shine in the dark and are glued to the ceiling of children’s rooms.
The brightness emitted from this phenomenon, by sailors, has already been considered enough to allow reading – a remarkable variation with the ideal peripheral darkness when there is no sunlight or moonlight.
These events, which can extend until the past months, to up to 100,000 square kilometers, have already been discovered from the area, according to the study.
Although Scholars They still do not know exactly the reason for this rare glow, the most accepted hypothesis is that it is a secondary result of the high concentration of biomedic bacteria named. Vibrio Harveyi.
This theory is based on an unofficial meeting in 1985, when the ship of research and analysis of a water sample gathered during the “Sea Sea” event.
“But otherwise, the conditions that lead to the formation of this phenomenon and how it causes the entire ocean shine in this way is still widely unknown,” said Dr. Stephen Miller, the joint author of the Study Department in the Department of Cover Sciences of Colorado University.
Miller, who was studying this phenomenon for decades, was the lead author of a survey published in 2021 who revealed that the largest “Milky Way” seas can be discovered by satellites.
After assembling all the well -known records of the “Milky Seas” scenes – including historical reports of sailors and satellite data – the authors of the study identified some directions related to these mysterious marine events: “Sea milk” mainly appear in the Arabian Peninsula and Water Southeast AsiaHudson explained, and it can be affected by some global climatic phenomena, such as biopper in the Indian Ocean, South Nino Astrale, Hudson.
The areas where these phenomena often tend to record the return of the ocean – when cold and rich water rises from the depths of the ocean, to the surface driven by strong winds.
Hudson estimates that in these areas, there is an event “the milky sea” per year.
“These are favorable areas for a lot of biological activity,” Hudson said. “But there are many places on the ground with these characteristics themselves. So what makes these areas really really is still unknown.”
The role of “milky seas” in the ecosystem
“Seas Seas” differs from the most common events in the ocean, caused by a type of plant plankton known as Dinoflagellate.
These organisms emit bluish brilliance when they are annoyed – for example, when fish swim almost or when the waves break on the coast – unlike the constant brightness that was observed in the events of the “Local Sea”.
While plant plankton flashes as a defense mechanism, the researchers believe that “SEAS SEAS” to attract fish-when consumed, allow them to prosper in the digestive system of these animals, Miller, who is also the director of the Cooperative Institute of Air Cover Research (CIA), from the University of Colorado.
Like many other scientists who study vital shine, Miller is one day expecting to witness this mysterious phenomenon personally.
Dr. Edith Widder, ocean designer and marine biology that did not participate in the study, is participating in the same desire.
“I spent my career by watching and measuring the vital shine in the ocean.” By collecting this database, the authors come close to the possibility of predicting the location and time of the occurrence of the “milky sea.”
Widder, the CEO and a chief scientist at the Ocean Research & Conservation Association, is also wondering about the effects of this vital event on other marine life – especially in creatures that hide in dark depths during the day and rise to the surface only in the dark to feed.
“The light is a decisive factor in the distribution and behavior of animals in the ocean … What happens to this daily hiding and arrival game when the animals that need to hide are lit through all this vital brilliance?
There were previous attempts to collect databases on “SEAS SEAS” events, but all ended up being lost over time.
With the new database, this “redefines the starting point for us, regarding our knowledge and awareness of the place of these events in the world and over time,” Miller said.
During these mysterious biological events in the ocean, “the bacterial population responds in an exciting way, and in a way that we did not really expect as possible,” Miller added.
He pointed out that among many questions that were not answered: scientists do not know how climate change affects the occurrence of these luminous events and how it can affect the ecological system.
“We need to understand how this process works … because among many other things, bacteria and plant plankton are associated with the base of the ocean food chain – all types and fish with higher demands depend on this food chain. The changes in this food chain, based on changes in the circulation of our planet, are the things that we need to understand.”
