Without plankton, the modern ocean ecosystem – the very idea of the ocean as we understand it – would collapse. Earth would have no complex life of any kind
When I arrived at Wickford Harbor in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, early one June morning, the sea was moderately calm, with a distinct metallic sheen, like a wrinkled sheet of foil someone had tried to rub smooth. Vitul Agarwal, a young oceanographer, waved to me from beside a research trawler with the name Cap’n Bert painted on its hull. Dressed in jeans and a diamond-patterned sweater, Agarwal welcomed me aboard and introduced me to the captain, Steve Barber, whose grey hair spilled from the back of a baseball cap.
A few minutes later, we motored slowly into Narragansett Bay. The sun was low. Directly behind the boat, the sea churned shades of grey and green. “I think we’re going to find a lot out here today,” Agarwal said, gesturing toward our frothing wake. “Because of the colour?” I asked. He nodded.
