Marine Life and Climate Regulation

The young people who have joined us for one of our Ocean Science or STEAMS voyages on the sail training ship Pelican of London know already that the tiny algae that form the base of the entire ocean food web have several superpowers: they change the chemistry of seawater and regulate our planet’s climate.

On board Pelican of London, our trainees are limited to the (near-) surface ocean in their exploration of marine ecology for practical reasons: we can take plankton samples, lower instruments or deploy underwater drones to several tens of meters depth – beyond that, we currently have no means of investigation.

For an insight into how the ocean’s algae, plankton, fish and larger animals move carbon into greater depths through their daily migration into the twilight zone, listen or watch the National Oceanography Centre’s Into the Blue podcast:

Featured Image: Phytoplankton Bloom in the Bay of Biscay [detail] by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC-BY 2.0