Naomi McKinnon knew something was happening, but she didn’t know what was happening. She went down the deck for a minute and then rejoined the two crew members.
Then it hit her. From horizon to horizon, from stern to bow, the sea around them was shining as the 52-foot-long Ketch passed south of Java, Indonesia on a moonless night.
“What’s wrong?” She remembered her thoughts.
what Mr. McKinnon And in August 2019, her six crew members were swells of sparkling seawater that were so bright and huge that satellites orbiting hundreds of miles overhead could see their sparkles. Last summer, a team of scientists reported on the feat of satellites. This opened the window to one of the planet’s most mysterious features. The bioluminescent ocean appears to occur when trillions of small bacteria glow in unison.
By the way, the researcher who wrote the treatise Stephen D. MillerColorado State University Satellite Expert, Recorded How McKinnon and his crew unknowingly used their observations, cameras, and buckets of seawater to verify the satellite’s discovery.
She reluctantly appeared at the end of last year after McKinnon learned of Dr. Miller’s work. “I thought,’Maybe he doesn’t want to know,'” she recalled. “But his reaction was’Wow! You are the first person to confirm this!” He was very excited. It was really nice to be able to contact you. “
Dr. Miller Said Supporting the sailing vessel for spacecraft observations in the minutes of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.
At sea level, there are two common types of bioluminescence. Common things occur when agitating waves or other movements stimulate and illuminate microorganisms. Many nighttime beach fans have seen turquoise luminescence in breaking waves.
The other type (the type observed by the boat crew) is not well understood and appears to exist in the absence of mechanical irritation. Its rarity makes joint observations from both satellites and ships a major scoop in oceanology.
Retired Dr. Johann Remens Doctor A man from Southend-on-Sea, England, was orbiting the globe with his two-masted sailing vessel and captain at the time of the sighting. He said he had never seen anything like that.
“Normal bioluminescence is when the waves are shining or there are traces of light behind them,” Dr. Remens said. “You see it a couple of times a year. This wasn’t the case. The sea was illuminated, but the waves were pitch black. It was really creepy. It’s a deeper level of light. Gave me the idea that it came from. “
The crew lowered the bucket into the water and pulled up a sample containing some pinpoint light that steadily glowed until the water was agitated. After that, the point suddenly became dark. According to a new treatise, the reaction is the opposite of “normal” bioluminescence.
McKinnon said her perception of the first glow occurred around 9 pm local time and strengthened during the night that lasted until dawn. Satellite observations reveal that the glowing patch south of Indonesia’s most populous island, Java, lasted at least 45 nights and was larger than the collective areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. became.
McKinnon studied biochemistry at university and Research Assistant He studied at the Round the World Sailing Forum in a laboratory at the University of Sydney, Australia, and joined the voyager at the age of 24.In her lab she studied Deadly marine poisonFor example, it contains the toxin of squid, which attacks not only the skin but also the heart and nervous system.
Dr. Remens, who grew up in the Netherlands, said the Round the World was a celebration of his retirement. His ketch, GaneshaNamed after, Hindu deity Carried the first seven crew members.
After witnessing Java, McKinnon said he did an internet search while at the harbor but couldn’t learn much.Later she entered Medical college At the Australian National University, when she read about Dr. Miller’s satellite treatise last fall, she was doing another search.
“I was still asking that question in my head,” she recalled. “What was that?”
Stephen HD Haddock, a bioluminescence expert at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Institute in California and co-author of a satellite treatise with Dr. Miller, said: , “Provides the team with independent verification of rare phenomena.
Dr. Miller said observations by McKinnon and his crew provide insight into a major mystery: how small creatures can affect the entire ocean.
“This is one big coupling system,” said Dr. Miller about ocean currents and the atmosphere. “It is important for us to understand how this basic level of the biosphere is tied to it.”
