NASA Study Finds Snow Melt Causes Large Ocean Plant Blooms
26.05.2005 - Other
A NASA funded study has found a decline in winter and spring snow cover over Southwest Asia and the Himalayan mountain range is creating conditions for more widespread blooms of ocean plants in the Arabian Sea.
Who would have thought that melting snow cover in the Himalayan Mountains could alter the ocean food chain over a thousand miles away? Well, that's just what's happening, according to a NASA-funded study appearing in this week's Science magazine.
The study finds a decline in winter and spring snow cover over Southwest Asia and the Himalayan mountain range is creating the right conditions for more widespread blooms of ocean plants in the Arabian Sea.
The decrease in snow cover has led to greater differences in both temperature and pressure systems between the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Sea. The pressure differences generate monsoon winds that mix the ocean water in the Western Arabian Sea. This mixing leads to better growing conditions for tiny, free-floating ocean plants called phytoplankton. Phytoplankton serve as the base of the ocean food chain.
