Marine phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean was found to influence the formation of cloud droplets, especially during the summer.
According to Live Science, authors of a study published in the journal Science Advances determined the microorganisms grow and band together when they take in light. As a result, they flourish in the summer when the days are longer and brighter.
"The clouds over the Southern Ocean reflect significantly more sunlight in the summertime than they would without these huge plankton blooms," study co-lead author Daniel McCoy, a doctoral student in atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, said in a press release. "In the summer, we get about double the concentration of cloud droplets as we would if it were a biologically dead ocean."
The researchers were aiming to learn more about cloud formation and how droplets influence their brightness. When the clouds take in droplets, they can better reflect sunlight and protect the Earth from radiation.
McCoy told Live Science the study was "interesting in a climate sense, because the amount of sunlight that is being reflected by these clouds is to some extent determined by the number of cloud droplets.
"It ends up being a 60 percent increase in cloud droplets throughout the year, doubling in summer, when the phytoplankton are most active, translating to a 4-watt-per-meter-squared increase in reflected sunlight, and 10-watt-per-meter-squared increase during the summer."
