Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 108, Issue 10, Pages 3860-3864Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1014576108
Keywords
rheoscopic; plankton
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Funding
- Australian Research Council [DP0772186]
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology International Science
- Technology Initiatives Program
- National Science Foundation [OCE-0744641-CAREER]
- Australian Research Council [DP0772186] Funding Source: Australian Research Council
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The growth of microbial cultures in the laboratory often is assessed informally with a quick flick of the wrist: dense suspensions of microorganisms produce translucent swirls when agitated. Here, we rationalize the mechanism behind this phenomenon and show that the same process may affect the propagation of light through the upper ocean. Analogous to the shaken test tubes, the ocean can be characterized by intense fluid motion and abundant microorganisms. We demonstrate that the swirl patterns arise when elongated microorganisms align preferentially in the direction of fluid flow and alter light scattering. Using a combination of experiments and mathematical modeling, we find that this phenomenon can be recurrent under typical marine conditions. Moderate shear rates (0.1 s(-1)) can increase optical backscattering of natural microbial assemblages by more than 20%, and even small shear rates (0.001 s(-1)) can increase backscattering from blooms of large phytoplankton by more than 30%. These results imply that fluid flow, currently neglected in models of marine optics, may exert an important control on light propagation, influencing rates of global carbon fixation and how we estimate these rates via remote sensing.
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