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New Stanford-led research unveils a hidden factor that could change our understanding of how oceans mitigate climate change. The study, published Oct. 11 in Science, reveals never-before seen mucus "parachutes" produced by microscopic marine organisms that significantly slow their sinking, putting the brakes on a process crucial for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The surprising discovery implies that previous estimates of the ocean's carbon sequestration potential may have been overestimated, but also paves the way toward improving climate models and informing policymakers in their efforts to slow climate change.

"We haven't been looking the right way," said study senior author Manu Prakash, an associate professor of bioengineering and of oceans in the Stanford School of Engineering and Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

"What we found underscores the importance of fundamental scientific observation and the need to study natural processes in their true environments. It's critical to our ability to mitigate climate change."

Video of marine snow sinking in an infinite water column generated by gravity machine. The sinking marine snow interacts with a wide variety of plankton as it travels through the vertical column. Credit: PrakashLab, Stanford

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