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Oceans in the Northern Hemisphere have become a little less 

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crowded. A new study led by NASA researchers has found 

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populations of the microscopic marine plants, phytoplankton, have 

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decreased in recent years. Individual phytoplankton are 

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invisible to the human eye but they can be detected from space by looking at the

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color of the oceans. Using a NASA model in combination with 

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ocean satellite data, scientists observed in the Northern Hemisphere 

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a one percent decrease of phytoplankton per year between 

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1998 and 2012. Phytoplankton

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are the first level of the food chain. So they feed fish but also

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larger mammals including whales. Plus phytoplankton are just like trees, 

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absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. So

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there is a constant exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere of gas.

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In fact, the ocean absorbs about 25% of the carbon 

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dioxide that is emitted by humans. We don't know whether the decrease 

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will keep on going but what we know is that this decrease could

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likely have an effect on carbon dioxide in the 

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atmosphere and the food chain.

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