The South Pacific Gyre is the Earth's biggest system of ocean currents, located south of the equator between South America and Australia. [1] It is mostly inactive and contains little marine life. [2]
Sediment
editThe South Pacific Gyre's sediment accumulates very slowly, approximately 0.1 to 1 meter every million years. Its ecosystem has very little living matter and contains low amounts of life and has low growth and reproduction rates. At all depths in the gyre’s sediment, mean cell abundances and net rates of respiration are several orders of magnitude lower than those of other subseafloor communities at the same depths. Because of the low respiration rates and thin consistency of the sediment in the area, most of the spaces between the sediment columns contain oxygen. This results in the sedimentary community of the SPG generally requiring oxygen to function, unlike previously explored subseafloor communities. Though per-cell, the respiration rates of this community are a couple orders of magnitude higher than in most subseafloor ecosystems living without oxygen, they may soon be decreasing to the approximate rates of the South Pacific Gyre.[2] Sediment from the South Pacific Gyre contains far fewer living cells than other areas. Sediment cores from this area contained a minimum of 1,000 living cells per cubic centimeter, while sediments from closer to the shore can have 1 billion living cells per cubic centimeter, and even areas as far out as the SPG can have 1 million. Little Organic matter settles in the sediment of the South Pacific Gyre because the currents around it move so slowly, so the water is very clear. [1]
Water Color
editResearchers have observed by satellite that some areas in the South Pacific Gyre are greener than the surrounding clear blue water. Their theory is that these green patches are a result of the accumulated waste of marine life. From satellite images, this disintegrated material often looks like living phytoplankton, but the assumed theory that the greener the ocean water, the more phytoplankton it contains, is not always true. The South Pacific Gyre is an example of this, because it contains these patches of green water, but has very little organism growth.[3]
See Also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Lovell, Clare. "Anybody home? Little response in Pacific floor." The America's Intelligence Wire 22 June 2009: n. pag. Web. 17 Oct. 2009.
- ^ a b D'Hondt, Steven, et al. "Subseafloor sedimentary life in the South Pacific Gyre." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (July 2009): 11651(6). Abstract. Web. 15 Oct. 2009.
- ^ Claustre, Herve, and Stephane Maritorena. "The many shades of ocean blue.(Ocean Science)." Science (Nov. 2003): 1514(2). Web. 18 Oct. 2009.
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