Rossby waves are gigantic, slow, and practically invisible, propagating through the oceans and functioning as a connection between the atmosphere and the oceans. As they move, these waves can transport nutrients to phytoplankton or make it sink beyond its reach. When phytoplankton finds enough light and nutrients, it can multiply to the point of transforming the color of the ocean.
There is a paradox in surface waters: there is abundance of light necessary for photosynthesis, but most of phytoplankton's food remains tens or hundreds of meters below. Nitrates, phosphates, and other nutrients tend to accumulate in deep waters, far from the sunlit zone.
In the vertical structure of the ocean, two important layers are distinguished: the thermocline, where temperature decreases rapidly, and the nutricline, where nutrient concentration begins to increase with depth. These layers create a physical barrier between available light and necessary nutrients.
Unlike fish, phytoplankton is composed of microorganisms that cannot travel long distances in search of food, making the action of Rossby waves fundamental to bringing nutrients to them or to taking them to regions where they can feed.
