Satellites Spot Oceans Aglow with Trillions of Organisms | Hacker News Reader

Satellites Spot Oceans Aglow with Trillions of Organisms

nytimes.com

94 pointswglb31 comments

Very long time ago in a galaxy far far away decided to go for a night swim while on a sea-side vacation. All was well, but something was off. It took some time to realize that the water was glowing with every movement. The faster I'd go, the more pronounced the light was. It faded very quickly, but was still very much visible if paid a little attention.

That was as unexpected as it gets. I heard of bioluminescence before that, but it was just so mesmerizing and mind-blowing to see it in real life. Very very cool.

I saw a clip from a Joe Rogan podcast some time back about a man who was doing long distance swimming. He was dropped off in the ocean in the middle of the night and had to swim toward the cost or some islands or something. With the boat out of view and no light pollution, what he could see was the stars above and the lights all in the water. If I recall correctly he said something like it became hard to tell where one ended and the other began and he had the feeling of flying through space.

We have great pictures and videos of our time at sea. But one of the things I could not photograph was bioluminescence at night. I assumed phytoplankton was fairly spread out, globally. But one of the most active areas we sailed in was off the coast of Tenerife. The water was literally glowing with activity. And things staring back at me, swimming alongside us. Sadly, none of the cameras I brought could operate at such low levels without making a smeary mess.

How long ago was this? Sensor technology has progressed significantly within the last 15 or so years. There’s a docuseries on Netflix that captured night scenes, including algae glow.

2016.

I've watched videos in the past that showed bioluminescence blooms. The equipment was highly specialized (low lux, large 2" CCDs). You're not going to find that type of camera fro <$1000 in your typically electronics store.

Thanks! I am somewhat wishful that I’d be able to capture unique lighting phenomena, but appreciate being brought back down to Earth that some things remain ephemeral and unable to be captured.

Latest and greatest definitely not but if you just want to dabble and have a camera with amazing low light sensitivity get an older model full frame camera. Camera depreciation is super accelerated and older model pro cameras can be had for super cheap. Ax7 is $650 new currently at amazon, 5d mark ii while a decade old are still amazing and can be had for $100+. Cheap prime lenses are amazing and pro cameras are usually only bought by pros that invest a lot of money in their gear and usually take really good care of their equipment, I mean sure its rolling the dice but isn't every purchase?

Regardless, the world of photography really opens up when you have the pro features, its fun and fun to nerd out on and probably most enjoyable like any new activity (for me at least) is witnessing your thinking change once you start carrying a camera which regardless of the activity (photography in this case) is something I always find deeply satisfying… idk I guess i’m still chasing the high from learning something like physics for the first time but I digress.

I had the same issue in 2019 with a GoPro during bioluminescence kayaking. Cellphones seem to handle it slightly better.

We? Our?

Could be GP and partner.

Me, family, and crew.

Contrary to what you may believe insurance does not cover solo sailing if you are further than x miles, let's say 50nm, off shore. Most sailing stories it's usually a we.

If you got a chance, Mosquito Bay on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, is full of bioluminescent microorganisms. There are canoe tours that let you experience it up close.

I hear they don't let you do it anymore, but when I went in 2007 and 2009, they let you swim in there and it was amazing. Every movement of your arm and legs left a glowing trail of light.

(They stopped allowing swimmers because that body of water is a shark nursery, and one took a bite from the leg of an unfortunate swimmer in 2011.)

Not as warm but it is also very visble at times in the straight of juan de fuca and some places in the puget sound of washington state.

Was in Vieques recently, absolutely amazing! If possible, try to plan to go when it isn't a full moon, or the sky is cloudy. Harder to see the illumination when the moon is shining bright. And you're correct they don't allow you to swim in it any longer, but they say its because it's harmful to the microorganisms, didn't mention the shark nursery.

Ha, I'm not surprised they failed mention the sharks before taking you on to the water. Here are some links:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/200227/20110818/shark-attack...

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g147326-i649-k4748070-S...

Having said that, I would swim again in that water without concern - thousands of tourists did it before and after me, what happened to that woman was just bad luck.

It's surprising to me how many creatures have eyes, yet how few can create light.

Creating light isn't awfully hard biologically - there are lots of reactions that can create (mostly monochromatic) light. Even humans make tiny yet detectable amounts of light as a side effect of some cellular level chemical reactions.

It does use quite a lot of energy, but illumination to levels similar to moonlight is still tiny compared to the energy budgets of most animals, even if the biological light-making process is pretty inefficient.

I guess most living things put more energy into not being seen so they're not eaten

Some do it to invite the dinner.

A lot more to invite mating partners.

A profitable strategy only if it attracts a lot more prey than predators.

In the case of deep-sea predators, there appears to be less bigger consumptive biomass than consumable biomass at present.

Currently, it is probably more advantageous for some luminous predators there than the risk of being eaten. The optical perception organs are probably reaching an evolutionary dead end down there. Better eyesight isn't an option.

But everything is in flux, it just depends on the time frame. Magnetic field perception might be an option. Are there deep-sea predators that hunt by magnetic sense?

But it's still cheaper to attract the food than to track it in the dark.

How about auditive perception?

Is 'pinging' the prey an option?

Well, one would need some organ that could be converted to ping, which fishes don't have.

You might find electrolocation in fish interesting :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroreception

Thanks for the hint.

I see, the midnight zone is much more diverse then I thought.

This remind me of the dark forest hypothesis.

That was my first thought as well

Make it a toggle

Maybe more might if there wasn't a giant ball in the sky spraying photons.

Regarding humans making light, is this what you're talking about? https://www.livescience.com/7799-strange-humans-glow-visible...

That southern sea off the coast of java has always been know for the supernatural legends for generations. Curiously, the locals usually warn visitors to not wear green clothing while visiting that sea because that was supposedly the favorite color of the supernatural southern sea rulers. Curiously, the article mentioned the bio-luminescence glow was blueish-green. Maybe these events have been occurring a lot of times in the past and the locals pass them on as supernatural stories.

Without paywall: http://web.archive.org/web/20210827125241/https://www.nytime...

That's incredible

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