It was something out of a Sci-Fi show to believe that plants could grow in the Arctic ice region, but NASA’s new discovery proves the contrary. According to researchers, beneath the Arctic ice there’s a rainforest of microscopic plants growing.
A study published this Thursday changes everything we thought we knew about the vast icy regions of the Arctic. NASA’s new discovery shows in the freezing waters of the Arctic some plants were able to develop and grow across a 60-mile region. Paula Bontempi, ocean biology program manager with NASA, said the new discovery is “like finding the Amazon rainforest in the middle of the Mojave Desert”.
Biological oceanographer Kevin Arrigo with the Stanford University explains: “As someone who has been studying polar marine ecosystems for 25 years, I had always through that the idea of under-ice phytoplankton bloom was nonsense”. The new discovery surprised even the scientists and showed them that not only was phytoplankton blooming under the ice, but it did so four times more than in open waters.
Arrigo told OurAmazingPlanet that the staggering discovery will have scientists rethink most of their “ideas about how the Arctic Ocean ecosystems function”. The scientists added that the existence of phytoplankton under the thick layers of ice shows “that the Arctic Ocean is a much more biologically productive place than we previously thought”.
The rainforest beneath the ice exists thanks to what scientists call “ecological shifts”. The climate changes have made the ice thin enough to allow the existence of microscopic plants. It existed before, but only when the sea ice was melted by the summer temperatures. The ponds of melted ice that carried the forests of microscopic plants were first discovered off northern Alaska, in the Chucki Sea.
The phytoplankton forests are one of the most basic food sources in the oceans and produce 50 percent of the overall oxygen produced by plants. Scientists don’t know yet if the abundance of phytoplankton in the icy waters of the Arctic will produce side effects for the ecosystem there.
“A more productive Arctic is not necessarily an improved Arctic or a better Arctic” said Arrigo. “If the Arctic becomes increasingly more productive, some members of the ecosystem will benefit, while others will not. There will be both winners and losers”.
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VIDEO
http://youtu.be/J8XqYvgxmCo
Ocean Acidification is now irreversible... at least on timescales of at least... TENS of THOUSANDS of years...
Even with stabilisation of atmospheric CO2 at 450 ppm, Ocean Acidification will have profound impacts (death and extinction) on many marine systems.
LARGE and rapid reductions of global CO2 emissions are needed globally by at LEAST 50% by 2050.
Analysis of past events in Earth's geologic history suggests that chemical recovery (normal pH for LIFE in the Ocean) will take TENS of THOUSANDS of years - while the recovery of ecosystem function and biological diversity (LIFE AS WE KNOW IT) can take much longer. (MILLIONS OF YEARS)
http://interacademies.net/10878/13951.aspx
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..:: "Every day, 70 MILLION TONS of CO2 are released into Earth's atmosphere. ( remaining in the atmosphere for thousands of years )
..:: "Every day, 20 MILLION TONS of that CO2 are absorbed into the OCEANS, thereby increasing the overall ACIDITY of the OCEANS.
By 2100, Ocean acidity will increase another 150 to 200 hundred percent.
This is a dramatic change in the acidity of the oceans. And it has a serious impact on our ocean ecosystems; in particular, it has an impact on any species of calcifying organism that produces a calcium carbonate SHELL.
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http://www.ClimateWatch.NOAA.gov/video/2010/origin-impacts-ocean-acidification
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..:: "These are changes that are occurring far too fast for the oceans to correct naturally, said Dr Richard Feely with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
..:: "Fifty-five million years ago when we had an event like this (and that took over 10,000 years to occur), it took the oceans over 125,000 years to recover, just to get the chemistry back to normal," he told BBC News.
..:: "It took two to 10 million years for the organisms to re-evolve, to get back into a normal situation.
..:: "So what we do over the next 100 years will have implications for ocean ecosystems from tens of thousands to millions of years. That's the implication of what we're doing to the oceans right now."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17088154
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http://ecodelmar.org/phytoplankton
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Calling all "Ocean Defenders", to INFORM the UN-informed "voting" American public of the danger of atmospheric CO2 produced by fossil fuel combustion... leading to global warming and Ocean Acidification... leading to the extinction of the base of the food chain in the Ocean and the loss of oxygen producing phytoplankton that is essential for Life on Earth... the only known planet with Life, as we know it, in the entire universe.
Keep saying it to everyone... until everyone is saying it to you.
http://EcoDelMar.org/phytoplankton
Until a critical mass of American "voters" can actually understand the OA problem, and stop living in denial, there will be no "political will" to solve the problem... mainly caused by Americans and the US military, ( http://EcoDelMar.org/Green_Military ) ... while believing their "might is right"... and believing in the infallibility of the human ego, while ignoring their own Spiritual appreciation/gratitude for Life itself... in effect, worshiping golden idols over Life.
While a critical mass of American "voters" stubbornly cling to a blatant denial of the findings of 98% of the top scientists of all time... the problem will not be seen by the "voters"... until it is too late.
http://EcoDelMar.org/MBA_blindness
~ Capt LL
http://EcoDelMar.org/
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