Underwater microphones can “hear” the sound of photosynthesis…

Researchers have found a new way to measure the photosynthesis levels of marine plants. A Cosmos Magazinearticle details how they employed underwater microphones that can pick up the sound of oxygen released by the plants. Like their terrestrial counterparts, algae seaweed and other aquatic plants generate oxygen during the photosynthetic process. Because they are underwater, the oxygen is expelled into the water. The higher the level of photosynthesis, the more oxygen is released. Small amounts will dissolve into the water without a fuss, but large amounts of oxygen form bubbles beneath the leaves of marine plants. Once these bubbles get big enough, they will slip free of the confining leaves and head upwards. Their size will keep the bubbles from dissolving before they reach the surface. Previous methods of measuring the oxygen content in seawater did not account for these bubbles. Marine researchers have been unknowingly miscalculating the level of photosynthesis in large bodies of marine plants for many years. Oxygen production is often used by researchers as a way to indirectly measure the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that marine plants remove from the oceans and ultimately, the atmosphere. (Read more)

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