![]() A BOE is when the Arctic Ocean changes from being covered in ice year-round and reflecting most of the sunlight that impacts it back into space to being mostly ice-free blue water for a period of time during the warm season (May through October), which will cause it to absorb most of the sunlight that impacts it. A Blue Ocean Event is ComingĪ Blue Ocean Event (BOE) is probably something you’ve never heard of, but in just a few years it will be the biggest story that everyone is talking about. They’re not only at the very bottom of the food web, but also provide almost half of the oxygen we breathe by converting CO2 pulled from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.A Blue Ocean Event is when sea ice melts in the Arctic and leaves blue water in its place Although small, when they band together phytoplankton have a huge impact on the biosphere. In fact, even ocean regions with high concentrations of phytoplankton will appear blue-green to green, since phytoplankton is rich in the green pigment chlorophyll.īecause the ocean’s color is so greatly influenced by the presence of phytoplankton, researchers often analyze satellite images of the ocean to gauge the health of marine ecosystems. Shallow water is also more likely to appear in other colors, such as lighter shades of blue or even green as a result of light bouncing off floating sediments and life forms such as algae and phytoplankton. The reason why some moving bodies of water, such as rivers and even stationary bodies of water such as ponds, appear to be muddy brown rather than blue is due to the presence of sediments that have been stirred up. An indoor swimming pool’s water will appear blue even at night under artificial lighting. However, its role in coloring the ocean blue isn’t critical. What about the sky? It is true that the ocean acts as a mirror, reflecting some of the light from the sky, which is blue. For this reason, the light that bounces off the ocean also has a greenish tint. There are many impurities such as salts or small fragments of tissue from marine creatures. It’s important to realize that oceans aren’t made of pure water. Not always blue Shallow waters can sometimes look green due to sediments and tiny plants and marine life. This means that the vast majority of the ocean is actually in total darkness. Hardly any light penetrates deeper than 200 meters (650 feet), and absolutely no light exists at depths greater than 1,000 meters (3,280). Oceans absorb a phenomenal amount of red light, making the entire planet look like a marvelous blue marble even from millions of miles away. The effect becomes more apparent when dealing with quantities of water at least as big as a swimming pool. The ocean being distinctly colored blue can be explained by the fact that the quantity of red light absorbed depends on how much water the light has to pass through. If that’s so, why is a glass of water, well, colorless? First of all, it’s not exactly colorless, since even a glass of water has a slight blue tint. Likewise, experiments have shown that when light passes through pure water, red photons are absorbed, as well as short-wavelength light such as violet and ultraviolet. In the fall, leaves appear bright yellow and red because deciduous plants stop producing chlorophyll for the winter. For instance, leaves are green because red and blue wavelengths are absorbed by chlorophyll, while green photons bounce back towards our eyes. We can’t see absorbed photons, and this has important consequences for color. The way our eyes work is that we only see things when light bounces off of them and hits our retinas. This latter action is known as ‘scattering’. Depending on what light interacts with, some photons will be absorbed, while others will bounce back. ![]() Afterward, the light will inevitably become altered as it interacts with various matter. The only pure type of light is the one immediately shone by the sun. ![]() The photons with the shortest wavelengths appear blue in the visible spectrum, while those with the longest wavelengths are red. White light is composed of photons that have many different wavelengths, and together comprise all the colors of the rainbow. ![]() You’ve probably heard that light is made of tiny particles known as photons. ![]()
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