Posted on 10/04/2005 4:13:25 PM PDT by anymouse
Mariners have long told of rare nighttime events in which the ocean glows intensely as far as the eye can see in all directions.
Fictionally, such a "milky sea" is encountered by the Nautilus in Jules Verne classic "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."
Scientists don't have a good handle what's going on. But satellite sensors have now provided the first pictures of a milky sea and given new hope to learning more about the elusive events.
The newly released images show a vast region of the Indian Ocean, about the size of Connecticut, glowing three nights in a row. The luminescence was also spotted from a ship in the area.
"The circumstances under which milky seas form is almost entirely unknown," says Steven Miller, a Naval Research Laboratory scientists who led the space-based discovery. "Even the source for the light emission is under debate."
The leading idea
Scientists suspect bioluminescent bacteria are behind the phenomenon. Such creatures produce a continuous glow, in contrast to the brief, bright flashes of light produced by "dinoflagellate" bioluminescent organims that are seen more commonly lighting up ship wakes and breaking waves.
"The problem with the bacteria hypothesis is that an extremely high concentration of bacteria must exist before they begin to produce light," Miller told LiveScience. "But what could possibly support the occurrence of such a large population?"
One idea is that the bacteria are not free-living, but instead are living off some local supporting "substrate."
Such may have been the case in the newly reported event, as the research vessel that encountered the milky sea "reported the presence of such bacteria, which were found to be living in association with an algal bloom," explained Miller, who is also with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
"So, our best working hypothesis is that we are witnessing bioluminescence produced by bacteria that are colonizing some kind of organic material present in the water," he said. "Satellite detection will hopefully allow us to target milky seas with properly equipped research vessels that will then be able to answer all these questions definitively."
The mysterious seas
The event occurred in 1995 and was finally analyzed and reported last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The mystery highlights how little scientists know about the ocean. Milky seas appear to be most prevalent in the Indian Ocean, where there are many trade routes, and near Indonesia.
"But there could be other areas we simply don't know about yet," Miller said. "In fact, we're already beginning to receive feedback from additional witnesses of milky seas. Some of these accounts occurred in regions we had not thought to look before, and we're currently working to find matches with the satellite data."
My dad was 2nd mate in the Merchant Marine in the 20s, and sailed in the Indian Ocean for a while.
One night he sighted what looked like a GIANT wheel (a couple of miles in diameter) spokes and all, slowly rotating off to one side of the ship. He said his hair frizzed up for a second but then blew it off to that photo-lumiscence phenomena and figured the critters were reacting to the throb of the ships engines, turning on and off with the beat, giving it the illusion of rotating. Said he saw more weird stuff in the Indian Ocean than anywhere else.
There's two different things: bioluminescence and phosphorescence.
Phosphorescence is a physical or chemical effect caused when phosphorus that is dissolved in seawater is stirred or disturbed by any kind of fast motion. Like a boat wake or oars, or uh... you relieving yourself.
Bioluminescence comes from light-emitting cells in living things like fish, jellyfish, or even microscopic critters.
Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!
Plankton!
I'm sure Gore (of the Internet-inventing intelligence)will be able to connect the glow with global warming.
Actually it looks like a picture of Abrham Lincoln with out a beard. It's looking at him from behind his right side. The first protrustion is his brow and the next lower is his nose.
Happy 5th anniversary, btw.
It's ONLY "W's" Fault if it's BAD;--If it's Neutral, or Good, It's Bill & Hillary Clintons' Idea!!
GET WITH THE "PROGRAM!!"
Doc
J - Check this out. Best I've ever seen is a red tide, although I do plan on seeing the aurora borealis before I die.
Why do I feel like Art Bell's going to be all over this one ...
Both full of missing seamen?
Interesting article.
Wrong! The Bush Administration searches high and low, past, present and future for anything to enhance global warming.
Jules Verne was undoubtedly manipulated by G.W., who was very, very young at the time.
;^))
I am not a marine biologists by I suggest phytoplankton. They are strange little critters.
Jonathan Davis or Dave Mustaine? Whatever, it's refreshing.
James Hetfield, Metallica. For some reason that song came to mind after reading one of the posts lol.
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