Kakani Kahtija may change the way we think about the ocean, the creatures and the world’s weather patterns. Katija is a national geographic explorer. She is a 2011 emerging explorer. She is a scientist engineer. She  researched ocean mixing. The process of warm, sun filled surface water mixing with cold, nutrient rich water at the bottom of the ocean. However, new research from a variety of oceanographers suggests the animals impact may have a better impact on ocean mixing than previously thought. This is called biogenic ocean mixing.

This was not the original work that Katija was doing. Katija is not an oceanographer but a bioengineer from the Woods Hole Oceanographer Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In this investigation, some of this work suggested that the swimming animals can impact the ocean mixing. “Ocean mixing is necessary for marine organisms,” Katija says.  “If you want to get oxygen, that comes from the surface or the atmosphere,” she says. “If you want nutrients, a lot of them settle at the bottom of the ocean. Somehow you need to spread oxygen well as these nutrients go through the ocean fast enough to sustain life. That’s where ocean mixing is very important.You need to spread oxygen well as these nutrients go through the ocean fast enough to sustain life. That’s where ocean mixing is very important.

Image and Article Source from :https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/marine-mix

Written by a fourth grader