A layer of water that reaches all around the globe is called the ocean’s twilight zone. It spans 200-1,000 meters below the ocean’s surface. The twilight zone is just out of light’s reach. It is full of bioluminescent organisms that light up the darkness.
At night creatures from the twilight zone rise to the surface to dine on plants and plant eaters. At dawn they retreat back to the twilight zone. This migration brings mass amounts of carbon down to the ocean. This process is called vertical migration and is the largest migration on earth! WWII sailors used this phenomenon to hide from ships that were using sonar.
The twilight zone has an abundance and variety of life. This ranges from microscopic bacteria to large squids. Some examples are crustaceans, lantern fish, viperfish, hatchet fish, jellyfish, and many more.
Unfortunately, the twilight zone is at a huge risk. Climate change is severely impacting temperatures in the ocean, and seafloor mining is at risk of releasing waste into the twilight zone, affecting the creatures needed to bring down the earth’s carbon levels.
There are still many things to research, study, and understand about the twilight zone; and how it works in coordination with the earth’s carbon levels and climate change.
Feldman, Ruth Tenzer. “Up from the Twilight Zone.” Odyssey, vol. 12, no. 7, Oct. 2003, p. 49. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=prh&AN=11037532.
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