Australia's red dust storm caused life explosion in Sydney Harbor and beyond
12 Oct
2009, 1526 Hrs
Sydney, October 12 Reports indicate that the red dust storm that dumped thousands of tons of soil across eastern Australia two weeks ago has caused an explosion in microscopic life in Sydney Harbor and beyond.
According to a report in ABC News, the findings are a result of an analysis of the impact on the sea of the September 23 dust storm that swept across New South Wales and southeast Queensland, by Ian Jones, director of the Ocean Technology Group at University of Sydney.
At its peak, the storm carried about 140,000 tons of soil an hour from central Australia.
An estimated 4000 tons of dust settled on Sydney, while Jones and his colleagues calculate about three million tons landed in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.
Measurements taken at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science on the harbor's north shore show a tripling of microscopic plant life, or phytoplankton, at the Chowder Bay site and in samples taken 10 kilometers off shore.
The scientists measure the presence of phytoplankton using remote sensing technology that can detect chlorophyll in the plants, which form the base of the ocean food chain.
Jones said that phytoplankton needs nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphate to grow, nutrients that are scarce in what he calls Australia's "desert" ocean waters, but were abundant in the topsoil that blew across the country.
Like all plants, phytoplankton take in carbon dioxide from the air, which is carried to the bottom of the ocean when the plants die.
Jones said it is estimated eight million tons of CO2 was captured by the extra two million tons of phytoplankton that grew in the Tasman Sea, the equivalent of a month's emissions from a coal-fired power station.
He said that the dust storm was a natural experiment that supports their work in fertilizing the ocean by adding nitrogen-rich urea to the sea.
According to Jones, this promotes the growth of phytoplankton near the surface of the ocean, which then leads to an increase in fish numbers.
"More phytoplankton growth means more stocks of fish. I see much promise in ocean nourishment being able to provide economical protein for vast numbers of malnourished people," said Jones. (ANI)
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