ASA SATELLITE DETECTS RED GLOW TO MAP GLOBAL OCEAN PLANT HEALTH

WASHINGTON -- Researchers have conducted the first global analysis of
the health and productivity of ocean plants using a unique signal
detected by NASA's Aqua satellite.

Ocean scientists can now remotely measure the amount of fluorescent
red light emitted by phytoplankton and assess how efficiently these
microscopic plants turn sunlight and nutrients into food through
photosynthesis. Researchers also can study how changes in the global
environment alter these processes at the center of the ocean food
web.

Single-celled phytoplankton fuel nearly all ocean ecosystems, serving
as the most basic food source for marine animals. Phytoplankton
account for half of all photosynthetic activity on Earth and play a
key role in the balance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The
health of these marine plants affects the amount of carbon dioxide
the ocean can absorb from the atmosphere and how the ocean responds
to a changing climate.

"This is the first direct measurement of the health of the
phytoplankton in the ocean," said Michael Behrenfeld, a biologist who
specializes in marine plants at Oregon State University. "We have an
important new tool for observing changes in phytoplankton every week,
all over the planet."

flying nine and a half hours yesterday to get to london is never fun. i cannot decide if i like the length or not. it is far more palatable than then short overnight hop from the east coast, but it is still not long enough to really get a good nights sleep. perhaps that is where my assumption fall flat...a good nights sleep. in any case, my method is simple. get to the office and work like crazy till dinner. eat a nice dinner with a good bottle of wine and then go to sleep. inevitably, i will wake at 0400, toss and turn until 0500 and then get out of bed. the beauty of this is that i get to see london as it emerges from its overnight stupor.

some people pop up in the morning to the great dismay of those who need three expressos before they can grunt an acknowledgment that the sun has arisen. london seems to be more the latter than the former. my hotel is a good twenty minutes stroll form the office. close, but just far enough. along the way this morning i nodded at the street sweepers, the milk delivery guy, the painters on the way to work with their tools slung over their shoulders, the local garbage collector flipping bags into the yawning maw, lycra clad bicyclists tearing thru the lights despite their colour [red], an ancient lady being walked by a yapping 8 inch long doggy thing which had its hair tied in light blue bows, a bread delivery truck that really smelled great....all the things that you see when the other 12 million are not out and about. all the things you see when you can stroll with your head up. all the things that make a day a good thing to start.

i subscribe to the newsletter of the Earth Observatory. it is a great compilation of recent work from NOAA. this weeks newsletter links to a series of photos illustrating how our world is changing. it is worth a look.... http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/index.php