Introduction
Recent observations reveal that small, sinking marine snow particles slow down due to the mucus enveloping each particle, according to physicist Rahul Chaguara from Stanford University. This mucus tail slows the descent of the particles, which can affect the carbon storage rate deep in the oceans, making understanding the physics of this viscous goo important for understanding Earth’s climate.
Marine Particles and Mysterious Mucus
Marine snow consists of dead and living marine plants, decomposing organic matter, feces, bacteria, and other aquatic substances, wrapped in mucus produced by living organisms. The mucus is similar to the sticky mucus that clogs airways during respiratory virus seasons, referred to as viscous elastic fluid. This underwater storm is not easy to study. When observed in the ocean, the particles sink quickly out of sight. In the lab, particles can be seen for longer periods, but the journey to the shore leads to the degradation of fragile marine snow and death of the organisms within it.
Physics Lab at Sea
To address this, Chaguara and his colleagues built a physics lab at sea. Aboard a research vessel in Maine Bay, the team collected marine snow particles in trap devices at a depth of 80 meters below the water’s surface. They then loaded their collection into a device on the ship, designed to monitor the falling particles.
Marine Particles and Mysterious Mucus
To observe the fluid flow around the particles, the researchers added small beads within the fluid in a gravity machine. This revealed the speed of fluid flow around the particles. The slowed velocity of the fluid flow in a comet-tail-shaped area around the particle indicates the mysterious mucus that sinks with it.
Significance of the Research
Particles sink at speeds of up to 200 meters per day. Mucus plays a significant role in the sinking speed. “The more mucus, the slower the particles fall,” says Chaguara. On average, mucus causes marine snow particles to stay twice as long in the upper 100 meters of the ocean than they would under normal conditions.
If marine snow sinks deep enough, it can store carbon away from the atmosphere. This is because living marine plants, like terrestrial plants, absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. When marine snow plants form, they take this carbon with them as they sink. If a particle reaches the ocean floor, it can settle in a layer on the seabed that stores carbon over long timescales. The faster the particles sink, the more likely they are to reach the depths before they are consumed by marine life.
Researchers say that knowing the sinking speed of particles is crucial for calculating the ocean’s impact on Earth’s climate and how that may change with a warming climate. The oceans are key players in the planet’s carbon cycle, and scientists estimate that oceans have absorbed about 30% of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans since the industrial era. Chaguara and his colleagues hope their findings will be used to improve climate models, which currently do not account for mucus.
Thus, this mucus is not something to be overlooked. “We’re talking about microscopic physics,” says Stanford physicist Manu Prakash, a collaborator on the work, which was also reported in a paper submitted on October 3 at arXiv.org. “But when you hit that with the size of the ocean… that’s what gives you the magnitude of the problem.”
Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/comet-tails-mucus-marine-snow
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