Five mass extinction events in earth's history each resulted in major oceanic species loss. All of these appear to be associated with significant atmospheric aerosol loading and a reduction in sunlight intensity at the surface. Importantly for marine species, it is not only the intensity of the incident light, but also its colour that is important as, within the ocean, only light with wavelengths less than about 550 nm penetrate to significant depths. However, it is these shorter wavelengths that are preferentially absorbed by atmospheric aerosol, with this effect thereby amplifying any reduction of light within the sea. This was modelled for various aerosol loadings, and it is shown that the amount of light in the sea, required for photosynthesis and visual predation, is especially sensitive to the aerosol loading and type.

中文翻译：

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超越数据的思考：当大海变暗时

地球历史上的五次大规模灭绝事件，每一次都导致了主要的海洋物种丧失。所有这些似乎都与显着的大气气溶胶负载和地表阳光强度的降低有关。对于海洋物种而言，重要的是不仅入射光的强度，而且其颜色也很重要，因为在海洋中，只有波长小于 550 nm 的光才能穿透到重要的深度。然而，正是这些较短的波长优先被大气气溶胶吸收，从而放大了海洋中光的减少。这是针对各种气溶胶负载建模的，结果表明，光合作用和视觉捕食所需的海中光量对气溶胶负载和类型特别敏感。