Sea life in the wake of a hurricane
Photo courtesy of NASA.
We tend to think of hurricanes as destructive forces.
But hurricanes can also give rise to life in barren stretches of the Atlantic Ocean. That’s according to Steve Babin, an environmental scientist at Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Lab.
Using satellite data, Babin found that in the wake of a hurricane, microscopic ocean plants called phytoplankton tend to thrive. He thinks that’s because a hurricane’s water-churning winds cause nutrients to rise to the ocean surface.
Babin told Earth & Sky why that’s a good thing for ocean ecosystems.
They’re at the bottom of the food chain, so when they do well, every living thing above them on the food chain does well.
Large phytoplankton blooms are also beneficial, Babin said, because they absorb carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas – from the atmosphere. But, Babin told Earth & Sky, hurricanes also have the effect of releasing carbon dioxide from the ocean into the atmosphere, much in the way gas escapes when you shake a bottle of carbonated soda. Scientists aren’t sure what effect this will have overall on climate change in this century.
The question is, what is the net effect? Is it a net gain in carbon dioxide as far as the atmosphere is concerned, or a net loss? That I think is a very important question.
Our thanks to NASA: explore, discover, understand.
Steve Babin also said, “Those regions of the ocean are like a desert. There’s life, but it’s at a low level, and among the life that’s there are these microscope plants called phytoplankton. And when they get brought closer to the surface, not only are they brought up with the nutrients – and have all these nutrients available – but they also get more sunlight…”
“So, it would be like a thunderstorm and a desert on land. Before the storm, there’s life but at a low level. But when the thunderstorm brings rain, plants bloom for a period of time following the storm. This is similar to these ocean deserts with phytoplankton, or at least we think that’s what’s happening.”
Our thanks to:
Steven Babin, MD, PhD
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
great article i hadnt thought of that aspect. 2 years ago during the hurricanes that hit central florida my wife and i walked down the beach a soon as the worst had passed. we picked up a number of hawksbill and kemp ridley baby turtles from high in the remainder of the dune line and put them back into the water.luckily since we live on a barrier island we were out looking before the babies died. i hope at least one of them survived.