6 ms·
very interesting! could someone explain why the hot water would lead to deep, cold water being brought to the surface? I thought hot water is less dense than co
by catwind7 7y ago
very interesting! could someone explain why the hot water would lead to deep, cold water being brought to the surface? I thought hot water is less dense than cold water. Wouldn't it just sit on the surface for a long time?
Or is there just such a large amount of this extremely hot water that the mixing overtime generates movement across the board?
- strmpnk 7y agoThe lava is pouring into the deeper cold water and causing it to rise. At least that’s how I read it.
- catwind7 7y agooh yeah that makes more sense i misread it as water but they meant lava. woops
- alikim 7y agoI think it's that, as the lava sinks to the ocean floor, it warms the colder, nutrient rich water at depth and causes it to rise.
- pvaldes 7y agoExactly this. Warm water is less dense than cold water and "floats" over it. The volcano has created a temporary nursery for fishes basically.
- aaron695 7y agoNot clear if it just warmed the water and it rose or it created a system that also dragged cold water up. But it was the nutrients in the water that seem to matter. (Also a huge huge carbon sink, might negate the volcano's CO2 emissions) 10.1126/science.aax4767 Subsequent remotely operated vehicle observations during September 2018 confirmed that lava intrusions ultimately reached depths of 725 m, and low-temperature venting directly associated with the fresh lava deposits was also observed (23). Upwelled waters from this depth would contain sufficient concentrations of nitrate to fuel the observed phytoplankton bloom. After the lava flow substantially decreased on 6 August, the much smaller flow that lasted for an additional month was insufficient to cause buoyant plumes of nutrient-rich deep water