The marine bioluminescence phenomenon is one of the most curious and surprising in nature. this Luminous seas, or ‘milky’ seas as they are sometimes called, occur when there are exceptionally large concentrations of certain light-producing bacteria.. This is an extraordinary thing that happens at most twice a year on the planet, and there is always no one to photograph or capture it. Now, a ship’s crew has passed through one of these glowing seas.
Chronicles of sailors who observed these seas of light describe them as an illuminated snowfield under a dark sky. Charles Darwin was one of the people who witnessed this phenomenon on his trip to South America.
An atmospheric scientist from Colorado State University (USA) has confirmed the bioluminescent “milky sea” phenomenon, thanks to the testimony of a private yacht crew who provided first-hand data as direct witnesses of the phenomenon.
In his article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesSteven Miller talks about how first discovered the incident while reviewing satellite images and later got confirmation from the crew on a yacht who was passing through the area.
Previous chapters have shown that large bioluminescence events sometimes occur in certain areas of the ocean, but such events are rare and there is little photographic evidence for them. One of the most notorious was what Charles Darwin and his team observed sailing from the southern tip of South America.
Ocean scientists believe it These illuminated seas are created by millions of tiny bioluminescent creatures that glow together.. It has only been scientifically confirmed once, when a research vessel passing through such an event collected water samples and found them filled with glowing bacteria.
Miller and several colleagues examined ancient shipping records for explanations of bioluminescent phenomena in their work and found many, many identifying them as a milky sea. These episodes were most frequently reported in the Indian Ocean and the waters around Java.. Miller also studied satellite imagery for such events and found many possible cases.
One in particular caught his attention: a bright-looking patch of sea just south of Java Island in 2019. He contacted maritime authorities in the area to look for possible witnesses. Like this, He discovered that the crew of a private yacht, Ganesha, had sailed to the area and documented what they saw.
Like sailing through the snow at night
crew they described the sea as glowing at night from below the surface, such that it looked as if they were floating on snow. Miller was able to locate several of the crew and interviewed them for more details.
Miller explains that correlating what was observed through satellite imagery with a first-hand eyewitness account allows for better investigation of what happened.
According to Enrique Ayala Duval, professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Bioluminescence is the light produced by living organisms as a result of a biochemical reaction. often luciferin (a protein), molecular oxygen and ATP (adenosine triphosphate) intervene and react via the luciferase enzyme as follows: oxygen oxidizes luciferin; luciferase accelerates the reaction and ATP provides energy for the reaction by producing water and light, which is very evident at night.
Reference work: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2207612119
Source: Informacion
