Re: New NASA discovery reveals mystery beneath Arctic ice (+video)]

"The idea that phytoplankton can not only bloom under 3-foot-thick ice
but
that they can reach numbers that put their open-water counterparts to
shame
was a complete surprise," Arrigo told OurAmazingPlanet. "It means we
have
to rethink many of our ideas about how the Arctic Ocean ecosystems
function."
---
Again scientists disprove their own theory.
What we think we know and the truth are often surprisingly different.

On Jun 20, 2:35 am, Travis <baconl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>  http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/522899****New
> NASA discovery reveals mystery beneath Arctic ice (+video)****
>
> New NASA discovery: Researchers funded by NASA were surprised to discover
> phytoplankton blooms flourishing under thick layers of Arctic ice, upending
> preconceptions about Arctic ecosystems. ****
>
> [image: Description: Description: Temp Headline Image]
> Looking down from the US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy, scientists stand on
> the sea ice in the Chukchi Sea off the north coast of Alaska in July 2010.
> (Kathryn Hansen/NASA) ****
>  ------------------------------
>
> By Charles Q. Choi <http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/>, OurAmazingPlanet
> Contributor <http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/>
> posted June 7, 2012 at 3:39 pm EDT ****
>
> The apparently barren ice of the Arctic can host huge bright green blooms
> of microscopic plantlike organisms underneath it — all hidden from
> satellites — suggesting that the Arctic
> Ocean<http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/tags/topic/Arctic+Ocean>is
> far more productive than previously thought, scientists find.
> ****
>
> However, it remains unclear whether such fertility could have unexpected
> downsides for life in the Arctic, researchers said.****
>
> The single-celled organisms in question are known as phytoplankton, which
> possess the green pigment
> chlorophyll<http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/410-why-is-grass-green.html>
> just
> as plants do, helping them live off sunlight. They are vital to life in the
> seas, serving as the basic food
> source<http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/198-phytoplankton-decline-from-ocean-...>
> for
> many ocean animals. Indeed, they are key to life on Earth — they account
> for about half of the total oxygen produced by all plant life.****
>
> Phytoplankton blooms<http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/2232-earth-art-ocean-phytoplankton-bl...>
> spring
> up in the Arctic during the summer, when the sun is constantly above the
> horizon. Scientists have largely assumed that the growth and amount of
> phytoplankton was negligible in waters beneath the ice there, although
> there were hints of phytoplankton blooms under the ice in the Barents and
> Beaufort seas and the Canadian Arctic
> Archipelago<http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/tags/topic/Arctic+Archipelago>
> .****
>
> "As someone who has been studying polar marine ecosystems for 25 years, I
> had always thought that the idea of under-ice phytoplankton blooms was
> nonsense," said researcher Kevin Arrigo, a biological oceanographer at Stanford
> University<http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/tags/topic/Stanford+University>in
> California <http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/tags/topic/California>.
> "There is simply not enough light getting through the ice into the ocean
> for them to grow."****
>
> As it turns out, phytoplankton not only flourishes under thick layers
> of ice<http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/282-arctic-ocean-sea-ice-global-warmi...>,
> but grows in numbers about four times higher under the ice than in the open
> water.****
>
> "The idea that phytoplankton can not only bloom under 3-foot-thick ice but
> that they can reach numbers that put their open-water counterparts to shame
> was a complete surprise," Arrigo told OurAmazingPlanet. "It means we have
> to rethink many of our ideas about how the Arctic Ocean ecosystems
> function."****
>
> http://youtu.be/tjms9Ks4nec****
>
> <iframe width="560" height="315" src=
> "http://www.youtube.com/embed/tjms9Ks4nec"<http://www.youtube.com/embed/tjms9Ks4nec>frameborder="0"
> allowfullscreen></iframe>
> ****
> Phytoplankton surprise****
>
> Arrigo and his colleagues were in the Arctic on the ICESCAPE cruise —
> ICESCAPE standing for Impacts of Climate on EcoSystems and Chemistry of the
> Arctic Pacific Environment — to study how ocean life was responding to
> recent declines in sea ice levels.****
>
> "Most of the difficulties in conducting the research were related to
> bashing through the ice to get to our study areas," Arrigo said. "In one
> instance, it took our icebreaker, the USCGC Healy, more than eight hours to
> go three ship lengths. We were surrounded by sea ice more than 15 feet [4.5
> meters] thick and I thought we would never get out." [Images: Icebreaker in
> Action<http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/1575-nasa-arctic-frontier-mission-ice...>
> ]****
>
> "As the ship moved from the open water into the ice pack, the instrument
> that tells us how much phytoplankton are in the water started to produce
> very high numbers," Arrigo said. "I thought this was odd since there
> shouldn't be phytoplankton under the ice. I actually feared that our
> instrument was malfunctioning."****
>
> They discovered a massive under-ice bloom that extended for more than 60
> miles (100 kilometers) into the ice pack on theChukchi
> Sea<http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/147-standing-on-the-chukchi-sea-ice.html>
> continental
> shelf. Based on their findings, productivity in the area they studied may
> be 10 times higher than current estimates of productivity there that are
> based solely on open-water measurements of Arctic phytoplankton.****
>
> "Our results show clearly that the Arctic Ocean is a much more biologically
> productive place than we previously thought," Arrigo said.****
> Thinning ice, more light****
>
> The reason that phytoplankton can flourish under the ice is because the
> Arctic ice pack has thinned in recent decades, riddling it with meltwater
> ponds <http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/2966-greenland-nasa-image.html> at
> its surface. As such, "a lot more light can penetrate through the ice into
> the ocean below," Arrigo said. "It's not nearly as dim as it used to be."***
> *
>
> Apparently, phytoplankton begins to grow beneath the Arctic ice in the late
> spring, as soon as there is ample light for photosynthesis. After a couple
> of weeks, the ice disappears and what is left is a remnant population of
> phytoplankton from that earlier under-ice bloom. The reason that relatively
> little phytoplankton is later seen in open waters is because most of the
> available nutrients were already consumed by their under-ice brethren. [6
> Signs that Spring Has
> Sprung<http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/1080-spring-signs-earth-seasons.html>
> ]****
>
> "Some have claimed that the bloom couldn't have developed under the ice —
> that it had to have begun in open water and drifted below the ice," Arrigo
> said. However, "given the currents and known ice motion, we have shown that
> this isn't possible."****
>
> Although one might assume that such productivity will be good for the
> Arctic, its specific impact remains unclear. For instance, phytoplankton
> blooms now seem to occur earlier than normal. Animals that fly or swim to
> the Arctic to depend on these blooms may have difficulty adjusting to an
> earlier season.****
>
> "It is often assumed that when it comes to biological food production, more
> is better," Arrigo said. "However, a more productive Arctic is not
> necessarily an improved Arctic or a better Arctic. 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. It's too
> early to tell who these winners and losers will be."****
>
> Now, researchers want to figure out how widespread under-ice blooms are and
> determine their impact on the polar marine
> ecosystems<http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/98-ocean-ecosystems-transforming-due-...>.
> However, "this will be difficult because the Arctic can be a pretty
> inhospitable place and sampling deep within the ice pack, which is what
> this research would require, is challenging, even for an icebreaker,"
> Arrigo said.****
>
> The scientists detailed their findings online today (June 7) in the journal
> Science.****
>
>    - Strangest Places Where Life Is Found on
> Earth<http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/622-strangest-places-life-found.html>
>    ****
>    - Images: Amazing Arctic - Creatures of the Bering
> Sea<http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/2743-arctic-animal-images.html>
>    ****
>    - On Ice: Stunning Images of Canadian
> Arctic<http://www.livescience.com/13807-canadian-arctic-melting-ice-sea-leve...>
>    ****
>
> ****
>
>  ****
>
>  Untitled attachment 03009.jpg
> 17KViewDownload

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