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Why is the Ocean Blue? The Science behind the Color of the Sea

Jakarta

The ocean is the widest view on Earth. The oceans cover about 71% of the planet’s total surface. But do you know why the color of the ocean is always blue?

Although not all seas are blue, sometimes they are red or pink because of the red algae growing beneath them. However, generally the sea is blue.

This salty water is in fact very important for life on planet Earth and serves as a support system. Starting from mitigating climate change, producing oxygen, and providing food and economic opportunities for humans.


The reason sea water is blue

Of course we all know that clean water is colorless, but clear. Then, why does the ocean appear blue? So do other bodies of water.

During this time, many people believed that the oceans and other bodies of water are blue because they reflect the blue sky. Though this is not true.

Of course, water does reflect the sky on its surface: from the shore, it might appear blue on a clear day, gray during a storm, or even show shades of orange at sunset.

However, if we sink below the surface, the blue color remains, and it also occurs when we view the ocean from space. In this case, the water does not reflect the sky.

Launching the Ocean Literacy UNESCO page, the reason behind the ocean looking blue is actually because it involves water reflections.

Sunlight which contains a complete spectrum of colors (rainbow colors) has different wavelengths.

When light hits the ocean, the water first absorbs the longer-wavelength colors, reflecting to our eyes the shorter-wavelength colors.

Like filters, water molecules absorb the red part of the light spectrum and leave the color in the blue spectrum, which is reflected to our eyes.

After reaching a depth of several meters, most of the red and orange light had completely disappeared, absorbed by the water molecules.

Then, the yellow, and green wavelengths are also absorbed, leaving behind the blue and purple. The wavelengths of visible light of these two colors are the shortest. Because of that, the two of them were able to penetrate even deeper.

Even so, the reflection and absorption of color in the ocean only occurs at a certain depth. Most of the ocean is completely dark. This is because almost no light penetrates deeper than 200 meters and no light at all reaches depths of more than 1 km.

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2023-06-04 10:00:00
#sea #water #blue

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