MBARI scientists are tracking carbon, one poop pellet at a time 🌊🔬👩🏻🔬
Think of the ocean as a carbon superhighway—it soaks up carbon dioxide at the surface, then marine life transforms and transports it down to deeper waters in the form of sinking organic material. A key player in this process? A mixture of dead plankton, poop, mucus, and other particles, called marine snow.
In a new study, MBARI researchers and their collaborators at the University of Rhode Island, the University of Maine, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, conducted a comprehensive analysis of the ecological mechanisms that drive the transport of organic carbon from the atmosphere into the deep sea by way of marine snow.
They collected 800 individual particles of marine snow as part of NASA’s EXPORT field campaign, then used DNA analyses to track the gene sequences of plankton groups. They uncovered predictive relationships that can now be tracked from space using hyperspectral ocean color satellites like NASA's PACE mission.
This groundbreaking work brings us one step closer to tracking the ocean carbon cycle on a global scale and helping us better understand and predict our planet's changing climate.
Turns out poop is cooler than you think. You can read the full story on our website.
