Ocean Drifters

An astonishing exhibition about plankton that effectively shrinks people to the size of a grain of rice is to open in London.

A massive 360 degree screen that shows the minute sea creatures at 4,000 times their usual size is set to be the star attraction at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition.

No person has ever seen plankton magnified so greatly and it will highlight superbly what is contained in the top few metres of the world's oceans.

The plankton move around the screen in a 15 minute film narrated by wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough FRS.

They appear as 13ft long (three metre) monsters and make humans the equivalent of less than a third of an inch (half a centimetre) in height.

The exhibit is based around the cutting-edge plankton science of Dr Richard Kirby, a Royal Society Research Fellow at Plymouth University.

In his spare time Dr Kirby takes sensational photographs of the beautiful plankton he works with and it is these images that make the exhibit such an incredible experience.

The film, which was produced and directed by Dr Kirby, is called "Ocean Drifters, a secret world beneath the waves".

Having written a best-selling book with the same name as the film, his motivation was to bring the importance of plankton to an even wider audience - and to big them up.

Dr Kirby said that the film is a totally immersive experience of the plankton world, except that you don't need to get wet.

Plankton are any drifting organisms found in the top few metres of the world's oceans and they include both tiny plant-like cells and tiny animals.

Dr Kirby said: "In between screenings of the film you can learn about the latest in plankton science from scientists at the cutting edge of plankton research.

"You can also get up close to plankton sampling equipment, and you can look down microscopes at plankton collected from different seas around the world.

"Plankton are hugely important and this exhibition is to try and help inform people about them.

"The plankton underpin the marine food chain. Without the plankton there wouldn't be any fish in the sea, no whales, dolphins or seals, no seabirds in the sky, or polar bears on the ice.

"The largest marine mammals, the baleen whales swallow millions of plankton in every mouthful. It is amazing to think that these huge animals rely upon the smallest of sea creatures for their food.

"Did you know that England's newest National park is built from Plankton? Go for a walk across the South Downs and the chalk underneath your feet is the remains of plankton deposited beneath the seas over 65 million years ago.

"It is plankton that also give the sea its distinctive smell referred to as the "sea air" because certain phytoplankton - the plant-like cells - release aromatic chemicals when they die.

"And they are even responsible for forming clouds because the same chemicals when they enter the atmosphere react with sunlight creating particles around which water droplets form.

"Most people are unaware of their presence, but if you have been swimming in the sea you will have almost certainly have swallowed them.

"The importance of plankton on a global scale is obvious when you realise that 50 per cent of the world's photosynthesis takes place in the surface of the sea, drawing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the oceans.

"Because the phytoplankton account for 50 per cent of photosynthesis on earth, they also account for 50 per cent of the oxygen in the air we breathe, which is a by-product of photosynthesis. So every other breath you take is due to the plankton.

"The carbon in oil and gas represents the dead remains of plankton that became buried in sediments after they sank to the sea bed over thousands of millions of years of time.

"When we burn oil and gas we are releasing the carbon it contains back to the atmosphere over a much shorter time scale than it was sequestered by the plankton, influencing our climate.

"With sea temperatures rising as a result of the warming climate, the numbers and distribution of the plankton are changing with ensuing ramifications for the whole marine food chain, and the ecology of our planet.

"In the North Sea we have seen a major change in the plankton food web as the North Sea has warmed by about 1degrees C over the last 30 years. This has signalled a fundamental change in the ecosystem as a whole with a knock-on effect for commercial fisheries.

"Although you may be unaware of their presence, you will have travelled with them if you have sailed across the sea and you will have smelled their presence from the sea shore, your car is fuelled by their remains and over millions of years they created some of the most enigmatic features of our coastline."

Ocean Drifters is produced in collaboration with Plymouth University's Innovation for the Creative and Cultural Industries group, which specialise in the 360 environment.

The plankton exhibition, which is a 'must see' event this summer, is at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, Carlton House Terrace, London from the 5-10 July.

The Ocean Drifters film is supported by The Rolex Institute, Carl Zeiss Ltd, Natural Environment Research Council, The Fishmongers' Company, and Valeport

Provided by University of Plymouth