A strange phenomenon has puzzled scientists since it was first reported in the 1930s: some milky white spots They typically cover an area equivalent to a few hundred football fields and appear mainly in the shallow waters near the Bahamas. Confused by its increasing and more frequent presence, a group of researchers from the University of Florida recently set out to study it for the first time. But the results and findings, far from shedding light, still do not explain their causes.
baptized as “white phenomenon”The study, which is published in the journal remote sensing of environment, based on satellite observation. And although it is known that stains are caused by an abundance of microscopic calcium carbonate particles suspended in water, It is not yet clear why grain clouds appear sporadically over the ocean.
Yes, there are principles. One of them claims that it is primarily a mechanical process, in which currents remove calcium carbonate sediments, according to the NASA Earth Observatory. Others, the agency adds, point to an origin in phytoplankton blooms and other biological or chemical processes. “But there’s really no scientific consensus on the causes,” he points out. chuanmin hu, an oceanographer at the University of South Florida, whose studies reveal a “mysterious increase” in incidence over the past decade that peaked in 2015, after which the affected area began to decline. The uplift which also seems to be linked to certain seasonal patterns.
Hu said, “I wish I could tell you why we’ve seen such an uptick in activity, but we’re not there yet.” “We see some interesting connections between environmental conditions such as pH, water salinity, and the behavior of winds and currents, but we can’t yet say what the exact mechanical, biological or chemical processes were responsible for that spike in activity.” Ultimately, we need to do more field experiments and combine them with remote sensing probes like this one to better understand the formation processes.”
