San Diego's Ocean Glows in the Dark

Title: San Diego’s Ocean Glows in the Dark!
Posted on: DogoNews --- http://www.dogonews.com/2011/10/5/san-diegos-ocean-glows-in-the-dark
By: Meera Dolasia
On: 5/10/2011

The coastal city of San Diego, California and the beaches are known to be warm and especially crystal clear but if I tell you that they are … … …  bioluminescent? Well that is how they have been the last 3 week and still are. Unluckily (for some people) this isn’t a sign of aliens landing on earth but it is a phenomenon Red Tides which occurs in different places on our Earth. Scientists say that they are not terribly toxic, which means that people could actually swim in the glow-in-the-dark waters. Those microscopic organisms known as phytoplankton, become the owner of the sea. They turn the normally pristine blue ocean waters into a reddish, brownish and purplish color. Over night the reddish/ brownish/ purplish color organisms turn color to a bright blue; due to a chemical reaction. It seems that the cells are jostling against each other by the ocean waves and the result is flashing blue in the ocean which appears wonderful in the night skies.

VOCABULARY:
Bioluminescent: from bioluminescence which means the emission of light from living organisms.
Phytoplankton: microscopic plants that grow in the upper regions of the ocean where sunlight is plentiful.
Pristine: belonging to the earliest period or state.
Chemical Reaction: is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another.

I really liked this current event because what happens is very interesting. The fat that those tyny organisms can make such a beautiful effect is scientifically awesome; even though they only have this glow-in-the-dark effect during night, it is not very nice to see them during the day. I think of this event as a special one because it is rare; I wish I was there to see it happen. If you check out the video posted on the original site there's a surfer which decides to surf in the glowing waters... very cool!