Scientists explore the vast reservoir of dissolved organic matter in oceans

Few things last very long in the world of the open oceans, it would seem. In the light-filled surface layer, microscopic algae convert carbon dioxide and water into biomass via photosynthesis. Individual cells vanish in a matter of hours or days, ingested by other tiny creatures or decomposed by microorganisms such as bacteria. Whereas tree trunks might remain standing for centuries and even millennia on land, the tiny inhabitants of the open seas disappear almost without a trace. Far from shore, for most seafarers, the infinite blue of the ocean is all there is to see.