Organic matter: does size matter?
- José Luis García
- Dec 7, 2022
- 2 min read
The Bentayga is an eddy that rotates clockwise, which affects how the organic matter produced and used by organisms that inhabit the ocean is distributed. Organic matter is made up of myriads of chemical compounds based on carbon atoms, forming carbon-carbon or carbon-hydrogen bonds. It can be divided into dissolved and particulate, depending on its size, and the limit is dictated by the pore size used to filter the water (between 0.2 and 0.7 micrometers).
José Luis filtering water to collect particulate organic matter (left) and an example of a filter with particles from the sediment traps (right)
Dissolved organic matter represents 97% of all organic matter in the ocean and represents one of the largest reservoirs of organic carbon on the planet. The highest concentration is found on the surface ocean, where the effect of the Bentayga is most noticeable. 95% of the dissolved organic matter comes directly or indirectly from phytoplankton, which are the organisms responsible for photosynthesis in the sea, and the remaining 5% from terrestrial or atmospheric sources. The functions of dissolved organic matter in the ocean are diverse, intervening in carbon dynamics in the ocean (Biological Carbon Pump), buffering and contributing to water alkalinity, complexing trace metals or damping the damaging effect of UV radiation on organisms inhabiting the ocean.
Particulate organic matter is made up of all living organisms that inhabit the ocean, and fundamentally, by particles of sizes ranging from micrometers to centimeters. These particles can be found in suspension or sedimentation more or less rapidly in the water column, being their main source waste materials from marine trophic webs. As they are larger, these particles sink, transporting carbon and other elements from the surface to the bottom of the sea, contributing to the Biological Carbon Pump.
In an eddy like the Bentayga we are observing that the main fractions of organic matter are dissolved and particulate matter in suspension and, therefore, the vertical transport of this matter dominates the flow of large particles, in sedimentation by gravity.
I’ve recently been exploring different browser-based simulation games, and it’s amazing how immersive they can be. Managing virtual worlds, building cities, or running businesses really makes the experience feel interactive and creative.
This article really highlights the fascinating complexity of organic matter distribution in the ocean, especially how eddies like the Bentayga influence it. The distinction between dissolved and particulate matter and their roles in the carbon cycle is well explained. For anyone looking to dive deeper into scientific topics presented in video format, I've found YouTube Transcript Generator incredibly useful for getting accurate transcripts quickly.
This article really highlights the fascinating complexity of organic matter distribution in the ocean, particularly with the Bentayga eddy. It's amazing how dissolved organic matter, comprising 97% of the total, plays such a crucial role in ocean dynamics. For anyone working with scientific documentation, I found Markdown to DOCX Converter to be incredibly useful for quickly generating clean Word documents from various text formats.
This article really clarifies the different roles of dissolved and particulate organic matter in ocean currents like the Bentayga. It's fascinating how much dissolved organic matter there is and its diverse functions. For anyone interested in visual representations of scientific data, I highly recommend checking out Converter PNG to SVG for crisp, editable graphics.
This is a fascinating deep dive into how organic matter, both dissolved and particulate, is distributed in ocean eddies like the Bentayga. The distinction between the two based on size is really well explained, highlighting the significant role of dissolved organic matter. For anyone interested in visualizing these oceanic processes, I found AI Image Generator By Nano Banana Pro incredibly useful for generating illustrative graphics for my own projects.