Why is oceans blue

Hi, Lawrence! The ocean is blue because of how it absorbs sunlight. We hope you stop back by Wonderopolis soon! Hey, Wonder Friend Sian Pi! The ocean is mostly variations of the color blue.

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We sent you SMS, for complete subscription please reply. Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook. Why is the ocean blue? Do all bodies of water appear blue? Why are some oceans more clear than others? Tags: See All Tags , absorption , algae , blue , Caribbean , Christopher Columbus , color , coral , eye , green , light , mirror , molecule , National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , ocean , phytoplankton , pollution , reflection , river , sand , sediment , shallow , sky , sunlight , water , wavelength.

Wonder What's Next? Keep WONDERing with a few friends or family members when you explore the following activities: Want to virtually explore some of the world's beautiful waters? If you could pick any of the places to visit, which would you choose? If you'd like to try a cool experiment that involves colored water, jump online and check out the Floating Colored Water Experiment.

You'll need just a few simple supplies: two glasses, salt, food coloring, water, and a spoon. Have fun learning about density with this easy experiment! Up for a challenge? See for yourself how light absorption affects how we perceive the color of water. You'll need to take a short field trip with a friend or family member to a nearby body of water.

It could be an ocean, a river, a lake, or even a small pond. Be sure to bring a clear drinking glass with you. Look at the body of water and determine what color it appears to be. Does the color change depending upon how far away the water is from you? Now take your clear drinking glass and fill it with water from your source. Hold it up and compare its color to the body of water it came from.

Can you see the difference? The study of ocean color helps scientists gain a better understanding of phytoplankton and their impact on the Earth system. These small organisms can affect a system on a very large scale such as climate change. Phytoplankton use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and in turn provide almost half the oxygen we breathe. The larger the world's phytoplankton population, the more carbon dioxide gets pulled from the atmosphere, hence, the lower the average temperature due to lower volumes of this greenhouse gas.

Scientists have found that a given population of phytoplankton can double its numbers about once per day.

In other words, phytoplankton respond very rapidly to changes in their environment. Large populations of these organisms, sustained over long periods of time, could significantly lower atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and, in turn, lower average temperatures. Carbon can be 'stored' in oceanic sediments when organic matter sinks and is buried in the ocean floor. Understanding and monitoring phytoplankton can help scientists study and predict environmental change.

Since phytoplankton depend upon sunlight, water, and nutrients to survive, physical or chemical variance in any of these ingredients over time for a given region will affect the phytoplankton concentrations.

Phytoplankton populations grow or diminish rapidly in response to changes in its environment. Changes in the trends for a given phytoplankton population, such as its density, distribution, and rate of population growth or diminishment, will alert Earth scientists that environmental conditions are changing there. Then, by comparing these phytoplankton trends to other measurements - such as temperature - scientists can learn more about how phytoplankton may be contributing to, and affected by, climatic and environmental change.

Below are several color samples extracted from this image, with a brief explanation of the likely cause of the dominant color. Learn More About This Image. Ocean Color. Near the Bahama Islands, the lighter aqua colors are shallow water where the sunlight is reflecting off of the sand and reefs near the surface. The ocean being distinctly colored blue can be explained by the fact that the quantity of red light absorbed depends on how much water the light has to pass through.

The effect becomes more apparent when dealing with quantities of water at least as big as a swimming pool. Oceans absorb a phenomenal amount of red light, making the entire planet look like a marvelous blue marble even from millions of miles away. This only works up to a point, though. Hardly any light penetrates deeper than meters feet , and absolutely no light exists at depths greater than 1, meters 3, This means that the vast majority of the ocean is actually in total darkness.

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40, subscribers can't be wrong. There are many impurities such as salts or small fragments of tissue from marine creatures. For this reason, the light that bounces off the ocean also has a greenish tint. Sign-Up Here. Ada McVean B. General Science. AdaMcVean Leave a comment! What to read next Why does plastic stay wet in the dishwasher whereas glass comes out dry?

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