Scientists at the World Ocean Watch and the United Nations Climate Oversight Committee agree about an alarming development: the thermoplankton web may be dying! Recent studies show large pockets of the TP web contain "dead zones," areas where there is little or none of the infrasound chatter that characterizes healthy TP communities. At dozens of varied marine sites, the TP, a "communal" form of phytoplankton, may be fighting a losing war with unclassified "junk strains" of genetically similar planktons. In each case, the zooplankton that coexists in the same ecosystem has evolved to enjoy the new conditions.

Nonetheless, Kurt Hugo, Vice President of the WaterWorks Company, a leading player in the TP market based in Kyoto, describes the scenario as "troubling" but "hardly grave." Pointing out that the sample sites constitute less than 5% of the TP Web, he noted that the activity is still confined to "relatively isolated areas" exhibiting "similar profiles."

Ricardo Britton disagrees. The UNCOC Research Fellow and professor at BWU-Dunedin, describes the scenario as "quite grim and mystifying." He notes that normal AI forensics and phytoplankton profiling have failed to produce any answers to the dilemma. In fact, the problems are occurring at the equator, the poles, and 60 N&S, where TP production is high, and around 30 N&S, where the ocean convergences retard TP replication. The same goes for lively coastal waters versus the open sea. "It doesn't seem to matter where you are," he says, "we're seeing dead spots in both quiet and loud zones, and both in and outside traditional incubators."

Cam Mwanza of World Ocean Watch points out that all of the weather avatars monitoring these dead zones have experienced "neural hiccups" and "white fugues." Obviously frustrated and concerned, he feels he can only preach caution. "Something's amiss, and it's getting ugly fast. The TP are not exhibiting the normal, healthy, 'chatter' we associate with them, instead we are seeing odd wave-like effects and large scale oscillations, accompanied by a decrease or loss of standard environmental activity. We don't have an answer yet, but… well, we need one soon. Otherwise, we may see a return to rising seas." Alarming thoughts indeed.