Slashdot Mirror
Jellyfish Swimming Is Mixing the Oceans
eviltangerine writes "A new article from LiveScience suggests that marine creatures, such as the jellyfish, may contribute as much to ocean mixing as wind and tides. Wired is also covering the story and includes a video of the jellyfish in action. From the article, 'The mere act of swimming implies that some water travels with the swimmer,' said CalTech engineer Kakani Katija, co-author of the study in Nature Wednesday. 'Drift applies to all animals, to anything with a body.' No word yet on when the jellyfish blender is to debut."
Ban the doggy paddle! It is a super effective mixing motion!
"Drift applies to all animals, to anything with a body.' No word yet on when the jellyfish blender is to debut."
Having been stung by a jellyfish the image of one in a blender did bring a smile to my face. They might make a nice sushi smoothie.
" 'The mere act of swimming implies that some water travels with the swimmer," said CalTech engineer Kakani Katija"
Temporary vortices aside, I think that Sir Isaac Newton might take issue with this statement.
The topic of ocean mixing is a huge subject, and seems to implicate just about everything you can think of: the atmosphere, geologic activity, emergent effects from complex system dynamics, boundary layers, energy dissipation, fluid turbulence, climate change, dissolved minerals, the rotation of the earth, gravitational effects of the moon, etc., etc. It's not particularly surprising to me that the actions of marine life are a significant component as well, though it's interesting to see actual numbers claiming to demonstrate it.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
6 percent of ocean mixing is caused by the thrashing of swimmers in the process of being devoured by great white sharks. 18 percent of these are being eaten by the same shark that killed their father.
The densities of sea life in the past is apparent in the history of its harvest. Were the oceans more prolific because of the amount of fish mixing? Mixing creates more interface, so wouldn't that affect tiny organisms because they get more exposure on the food chain?
I recently read history of herring runs spawning in the Salish Sea so abundantly that the water was white, and that eggs were laid on everything in the water, such that they could be collected simply by submerging cedar branches. Not to mention historical quantities of fish all over the world...
Just heard a flying astronaut again describing how thin a veil the atmosphere is and I realized that for how big a volume the earth is, its livable surface area(biosphere) isn't really that large at all. *duh* but I never connected spherical geometry (area vs volume) and the concept of how profoundly we could affect our environment when the earth is soo big.
The Institute's Media Relations Department specifically requests that all press organizations should use either use "Caltech" or "California Institute of Technology," and that "CalTech" or "Cal Tech" is nonstandard. It isn't about proper use of English, it's just that it makes sense to use a single standardized abbreviation.
Incidentally, as an alumnus, I've noticed that several street signs located in the Pasadena area that point to Caltech are similarly incorrect. Not that I really care. That place took four years of my life from me, the professors don't care about the undergraduates, and the living quarters were ridiculously filthy, so it's not like I really give a rat's ass.
Let's All Go Jellyfishing!!! (This is the Best Day Ever!!!)
I mean, I know headlines can't convey everything, but it seems a few leaps have been made...
Exactly. I mean isn't that why ships and trucks travel in convoys?
Like Slashdot not SlashDot... now that wasn't hard was it?
maybe they will discover that moving boats do it too?! Or birds do the same with the air?!
Boats don't mix water very much vertically, at least not much below the surface layers, anyway. It's the vertical mixing, of both salinity and temperature, that makes a difference in thermohaline flow.
My guess, and I suppose I could be wrong here, is that the contribution of birds to atmospheric mixing is below the noise level. The atmosphere is strongly heated from the bottom, which results in thermal instability ("thermals"). The oceans, on the other hand, are primarily heated from the top (except around thermal vents).
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
gosh, isn't energy measured in Joules anymore?
You probably already know this, but a Watt is a Joule per second. It's like the difference between distance and speed.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I'll have a Martini James.
Pulsated, not stirred!
which is definitely worth checking out. Really amazing stuff!
The BBC story also has some interesting points about why jellyfish in particular are being looked at.
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I just wondered whether those formerly large populations were sustainable because of a factor like this, and once they were reduced beyond a point, the ocean became less "fertile", causing an additional downward pressure...
That's like saying the movement of animals affect the wind. Let me guess, birds were once so populous that the beating of their wings....what bullshit. Sounds kewl tho...you know, the kind of cool that's so stupid it's interesting?