The colour of the ocean – why does it matter?

An introduction to ocean colour, and why it matters to our health and the health of our planet. For over 100 years, scientists have studied the colour of the ocean to learn about ocean health. The colour of the ocean changes depending on what is in the water. For example, when there are many phytoplankton (microscopic plant-like organisms) the water can appear green because of the pigments they contain; other times, certain types of phytoplankton can turn the water red. Changes in ocean colour can tell us a lot about water quality and the overall health of the marine environment. Although phytoplankton are microscopic, there are so many millions of them that all together we can see them from space! In this video, Aquila Erskine speaks to Dr Gemma Kulk and Claire Widdicombe from Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and Prof Alex Nimmo-Smith from the University of Plymouth, as they explain more about observing ocean colour from space, various sampling techniques, and the microscopic organisms you find in the ocean. PML leads research in the field of ocean colour, understanding the effects of climate change, pollution and even human health – with Dr. Gemma Kulk explaining how she uses satellite data to understand and improve water quality to help reduce the impact of waterborne diseases on human health. Find out more about PML’s work in earth observation: https://pml.ac.uk/sciencetopics/earth... 00:00 - Introduction 00:20 - Observing the ocean from space: using satellites 01:31 - 19th century tool still used by scientists today: the Secchi disk 02:19 - Different water sampling techniques 05:20 - Inspecting samples under the microscope, to discover plankton 07:52 - Using ocean colour to detect waterborne diseases: from space