Do Swimming Animals Mix the Ocean?

2023/12/21 by John O. Dabiri · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Marine and coastal ecosystems #Marine and fisheries research #Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes

paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/lob.10614

openalex publication_date 2023/12/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Abstract The world's oceans are in constant motion, transporting the sun's heat from the equator to the poles, bringing marine life fresh supplies of oxygen and nutrients, and sequestering nearly half of our carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution. Within this dynamic aquatic milieu exists another type of motion: the perpetual teeming of trillions of swimming animals. Are these organisms simply along for the ride, carried by the prevailing ocean currents and occasionally using their powers of locomotion to explore their surroundings; or could their propulsion result in dynamical feedbacks that influence the physical and biogeochemical structure of the ocean itself?

Citations

• VERTICAL MIXING, ENERGY, AND THE GENERAL CIRCULATION OF THE OCEANS
• Global Patterns of Diapycnal Mixing from Measurements of the Turbulent Dissipation Rate
• Intense upper ocean mixing due to large aggregations of spawning fish

Discussions

• Do Swimming Animals Mix the Ocean? As it seems locally yes from mass migrations up and down the water column But the question is far from resolved What I wonder: can local weakening of highly strat [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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