COSEE Ocean Systems: News
Shedding Light on Light in the Ocean
Description: Light in the ocean is like light in no other place on Earth. It is a world that is visibly different from our familiar terrestrial world, and one that marine animals, plants, and microbes are adapted to in extraordinary ways. Light behaves very differently when it moves from air into water. It moves through the expansive depths of an ocean that is devoid of solid surfaces. These and other factors combine to create an environment that has no equivalent on land. In many ways, light permeates and creates the environment that ocean organisms experience. The same is true on land-though we often take light for granted. We see light as background, when it actually sets the stage and dictates our view of the world. As sure as day follows night and the sun makes plants grow, light frames our existence. [Source: Oceanus - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute]
URL: http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=2472
Availability: Full Text
Source: Oceanus - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Publish Date: 3/25/2008
Reading Level: Basic
Page Length: 6

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