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[Music]

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seen from space the blue earth is

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standing at the shore the ocean looks

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endless and empty

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but below the surface the ocean is

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actually brimming with microscopic

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plants called phytoplankton

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if you were to take a empty coke can and

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go scoop up some water from the shore in

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the coke can you would have between

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order 75 to 100 million phytoplankton in

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that cocaine

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[Music]

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this invisible forest to phytoplankton

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is critical to life on earth

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phytoplankton provide the base of the

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marine food web

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they also help our planet breathe

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through photosynthesis phytoplankton

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generate one half of the oxygen produced

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on earth that all animals including

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the blooms of phytoplankton also take

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carbon dioxide out of the surface waters

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making the ocean an important carbon

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sink

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like plants on land phytoplankton needs

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sunlight water and nutrients to grow

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they thrive in surface waters where the

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sun's rays reach and their nutrients

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come from many places

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cold waters carry essential nutrients

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from the ocean's lower depths to the

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the trillions of phytoplankton in the

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ocean are critical to study

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but how do researchers track these

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ships move too slowly for a job this big

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so researchers look at global

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distributions of phytoplankton from

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over the past decade scientists have

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deployed earth observing satellites to

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remotely monitor the color of the oceans

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by detecting ocean color from space

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satellites monitor the abundance of

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phytoplankton in the water

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the reason that it's so important to

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study the phytoplankton from space is

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because it's the only way we can get a

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perspective of actually what's happening

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on the entire planet over an entire year

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every day in and out

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and by doing this over many years

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we can actually see how the earth is

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changing changing

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from natural forcings natural factors as

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well as hopefully being able to detect

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phytoplankton respond rapidly to

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environmental changes in the past decade

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researchers have observed that global

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levels of phytoplankton tend to decrease

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as the ocean temperatures warm

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during normal

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physical mixing in the ocean nutrients

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come up from the bottom

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phytoplankton are fertilized they grow

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the nutrients are depleted the

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phytoplankton die or eaten by something

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else and the process just continues

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anything that happens that

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slows down

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that movement of cold deep water to the

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surface

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would stop the flow of nutrients which

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would

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cause the phytoplankton not to grow as

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well

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and what's happened over the past 10

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years that we've been observing the

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oceans

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in large areas of the ocean they've

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warmed up

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and what that means is the surface water

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has warmed

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and it has essentially put a cap

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[Music]

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process as earth's climate is changing

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so is the ocean

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lowered levels of phytoplankton have

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implications for the marine food web

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the increased carbon dioxide in earth's

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atmosphere impacts the ocean's chemistry

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the seawater becomes acidic which

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every part of the earth

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is

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interconnected with the earth as a

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system the whole earth system

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the ocean influences the climate the

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climate influences the ocean

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land influences the ocean all those

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it is more important than ever to track

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changes in the ocean from space and new

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tools are helping researchers study the

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ocean and the phytoplankton that call it

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as earth's climate continues to change

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researchers will refine their tools and

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keep a close eye on these powerful

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marine plants from space

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who knew that something so small could

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provide vital insight into the health of