Phytoplankton (Chalk) Wall 2018

The project highlights phytoplankton as chalk, also known as calcium carbonate. Chalk is a very pure biogenic fine-grained limestone made up of marine dandruff, the hard bits of marine algae (coccolithophores) that have settled to the sea bed. If large algae blooms occur, the chalk-laden, green/white water can be seen by satellite. Paul Matson, a UCSB postdoctoral scientist, counted 5 million coccolithophore cells in just one liter of seawater during a Santa Barbara algae bloom in 2015. Algae stencils for a giant chalk wall was developed as part of The Algae Society exhibition at the MOXI Museum in Santa Barbara, CA.