About Planktochrome

This project developed by artist Rob Smith presents an ongoing series of experiments to create connections with phytoplankton and the role these microscopic marine plants have in sequestering carbon for the other inhabitants of this planet.

Phytoplankton are a vital part of the planet’s ecology, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, providing the basis for food webs and forming an intrinsic part of the earth’s carbon cycle. Each year these tiny organisms remove more than 30 billion tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere as well as producing more than 50% of the oxygen in the atmosphere, more than all the rainforests on earth together. Phytoplankton’s effects are interwoven with the planets ecosystems and without it, the planet would be uninhabitable.

This capacity to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere has made phytoplankton a subject for research into how it can be used to reduce the effects of climate change; from carbon capture and storage systems to producing biofuels.

These Planktochrome experiments make visible phytoplankton’s interrelationships with the places that we inhabit and their effects on carbon dioxide levels, and creates a space to discuss how expanding beyond exclusively human thinking is vital to fully understanding anthropogenic climate change

Human activity has dramatically increased Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels which now exceed 400 parts per million (ppm) the highest that they have been for 3.6 milllion years. In this apparatus a carbon dioxide sensor monitors the changing levels of carbon dioxide with the growth of phytoplankton and changing environmental conditions