The Ocean’s Green Machines

Click image to view movie (MP4, 62.2 MB). Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, The SeaWiFS Project and GeoEye
[12-Oct-09] One tiny marine plant makes life on Earth possible: phytoplankton. These microscopic photosynthetic drifters form the basis of the marine food web, regulate carbon in the atmosphere, and are responsible for half of the photosynthesis that takes place on this planet. Earth's climate is changing at an unprecedented rate, and as our home planet warms, so does the ocean. Warming waters have big consequences for phytoplankton and for the planet.