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Studies of Bacterial Chemotaxis Using Microfluidics - Interview
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Published on: May 28, 2007

Do small swimmers mix the ocean?

A M Leshansky1, L M Pismen

  • 1Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel. lisha@technion.ac.il

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
|September 28, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Small marine organisms like krill and jellyfish can significantly mix ocean waters through a drift mechanism. This biogenic mixing, driven by unsteady propulsion, plays a substantial role in turbulent marine environments.

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Area of Science:

  • Oceanography
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Biogeochemistry

Background:

  • Biogenic mixing is crucial for nutrient cycling and oxygen transport in marine ecosystems.
  • A recent drift mechanism proposed by Katija and Dabiri (2009) suggests marine organisms contribute to ocean mixing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the hydrodynamic aspects of the proposed drift mechanism for biogenic mixing.
  • To evaluate the effectiveness of this drift mechanism in a turbulent marine environment.

Main Methods:

  • Development of a hydrodynamic scenario based on unsteady inertial propulsion.
  • Analysis of the interaction between marine swimmers and the turbulent ocean.
  • Derivation of scaling arguments to compare drift-powered mixing with ambient turbulence.

Main Results:

  • The locomotion gait of marine organisms is relevant to drift at various spatial scales.
  • Unsteady inertial propulsion is a key hydrodynamic aspect for small marine organism drift.
  • Substantial biomixing can be achieved by numerous small drifters like krill and jellyfish.

Conclusions:

  • The proposed drift mechanism is an effective contributor to ocean mixing.
  • Small, numerous marine organisms play a significant role in ocean's biomixing processes.
  • Understanding organism hydrodynamics is key to quantifying biogenic mixing in the ocean.