Climate Change is Making Our Oceans Change Color, New Research Finds

The color of the ocean has changed significantly over the last 20 years and human-caused climate change is likely responsible, according to a new study. From a report: More than 56% of the world's oceans have changed color to an extent that cannot be explained by natural variability, said a team of researchers, led by scientists from the National Oceanography Center in the UK and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, in a statement. Tropical oceans close to the equator in particular have become greener in the past two decades, reflecting changes in their ecosystems, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The color of the ocean is derived from the materials found in its upper layers. For example, a deep blue sea will have very little life in it, whereas a green color means there are ecosystems there, based on phytoplankton, plant-like microbes which contain chlorophyll. The phytoplankton form the basis of a food web which supports larger organisms such as krill, fish, seabirds and marine mammals. It's not clear exactly how these ecosystems are changing, said study co-author Stephanie Dutkiewicz, senior research scientist in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and the Center for Global Change Science. While some areas are likely to have less phytoplankton, others will have more -- and it's likely all parts of the ocean will see changes in the types of phytoplankton present. Ocean ecosystems are finely balanced and any change in the phytoplankton will send ripples across the food chain.

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