Naomi didn't know what was going on. She returned to her two crewmates on watch after a short time below deck.
It struck her. The sea was glowing from the horizon to the bow as they sailed south of the Indonesian island of Java on a moonless night.
She thought about what the hell she had just heard.
A satellite was able to see the shimmers of the glowing seawater that Ms. McKinnon and her six crewmates encountered in August. A team of scientists reported on the satellite feat last summer, which allowed them to see one of the planet's most puzzling features. trillions of tinybacteria light up in unison to make the bioluminescent seas.
Steven D. Miller, a satellite expert at Colorado State University, has written about how Ms. McKinnon and her crewmates verified the satellite findings.
She came forward reluctantly after learning of Dr. Miller's research. She wondered if he didn't want to know. His response was amazing. You are the first one to confirm this. He was so happy. I was very happy to reach out.
The sailboat's corroboration of the observations was reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.
Two types of bioluminescence can be found at the ocean. There is a common one when waves or other movements cause the organisms to glow. A lot of people have seen the blue-green luminescence on the beach.
The boat's crew observed that the other type was free of mechanical stimulation. It is a major scoop for ocean science because of its rarity.
Dr. Lemmens, a retired medical doctor from England, was sailing his two-masted sailboat around the world when it was spotted. He said he had never seen something like that before.
When the waves light up or there's a trail of light behind you is normal bioluminescence. You can see that twice a year. This was not the same as the previous one. The waves were dark. It was really spooky because of that. The idea was given that the light was coming from a higher level.
The crew lowered a bucket into the water and pulled up a sample that was glowing with light until the water was stirred. The new paper says that the response is not normal.
The glow intensified during the night and lasted until dawn, according to Ms. McKinnon. The glowing patch south of Java, Indonesia's most populous island, persisted for at least 45 nights and grew to be larger than the areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Ms. McKinnon joined the voyagers at the age of 24 after studying biochemistry in college and working as a research assistant in a lab. She studied the toxins of box jellyfish and other deadly marine venoms in her lab.
He said the circumnavigation was a celebration of his retirement. He named his ketch after a Hindu god.
She did internet searches when in port but failed to learn much. She was doing another search when she read about the satellite paper.
She said she had a question in her head. It was what?
Steven H. D. Haddock, an expert in bioluminescence at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California and a co-author of the satellite paper, said it was wonderful that coverage of the original science reached sailors who reached back to them.
The doctor said that.
Insights on how tiny organisms can influence whole seas are offered by the observations.
The atmosphere and ocean currents are one big system. The basic level of the biosphere ties into that.
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