Re: The blueness of water

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Mon, 29 Apr 2002, kyle wrote:

> Just to throw a wrench into this- a biologist friend who long ago did
> water sampling around the Savana River Nuclear plant claimed that most
> of the color associated with water in lakes and in the ocean (blackish,
> bluish, slate, greenish etc.) had to do with the particular species of
> organic life inhabiting the water (plankton etc.). This in turn was
> related to dissolved minerals and nutrients but was also related to
> temperature, local climate and habitat.

I heard somewhere that those beautiful blue waters on tropical beaches
indicate that the water is lethal to single-celled critters, and that's
why it's so clear.  Bacteria range in size down to 150nM minimum.  Their
size is right for acting as good scatterers of optical wavelengths, which
makes the water of northern beaches fairly opaque.

PS
Yes, pure water is a blue liquid.  But does ocean salinity make it even
bluer?


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