Using satellites to count krill

Antarctic krill (small creatures that look a bit like prawns) are an important food for lots of larger animals, including penguins, seals and whales. It’s estimated there are more than 700 trillion of them in the ocean around Antarctica but there are concerns that fishing and climate change are affecting their numbers. Counting them accurately is a mind-boggling task but scientists have found a way. The new method involves studying how krill numbers change the amount of light seawater absorbs – a process that affects the colour of the water. Researchers collected krill to study this effect. Dr Cait McCarry, from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, said, “We start with seawater, then we add in a krill and take a measurement (of how much light the water absorbs). Then…

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The Week Junior (UK) (Digital) - 1 Issue, 480

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