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Zooplankton Migrant Pump: Diel Vertical Migration Carbon Export

Interactive 3D simulation of the zooplankton 'migrant pump': thousands of copepods rise to the surface to feed at night and dive to depth by day, respiring and excreting carbon below the mixed layer — a real, active-transport component of the ocean's biological carbon pump, distinct from passive marine-snow sinking.

Ecology & Conservation Biology3DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 2D version

The ocean's biological carbon pump isn't just sinking "marine snow" — a huge fraction of it rides on animals swimming up and down every day. This simulation renders thousands of instanced copepods performing diel vertical migration (DVM): rising into the sunlit surface layer at night to feed, then diving below the mixed-layer depth at dawn to spend daylight hours avoiding visual predators. While at depth they respire CO₂ and excrete carbon that stays trapped below the surface layer — the "migrant pump." Adjustable population size, migration amplitude and respiration rate drive a live carbon-export flux readout computed directly from the population's depth distribution each frame, alongside cumulative exported carbon, mean depth and the fraction of the population currently below the mixed layer.

⚙ Under the hood

Watch thousands of copepods perform diel vertical migration — rising to feed at the surface by night and diving below the mixed layer by day — while a live flux readout computes the carbon this active 'migrant pump' exports below the mixed-layer depth.

biological carbon pumpzooplanktondiel vertical migrationocean ecologycarbon exportmarine biology

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install