Home▸Nature & Climate▸Bioluminescent Plankton Waves: Foam-Line Glow (2D)

Bioluminescent Plankton Waves: Foam-Line Glow (2D)

A 2D canvas beach at night: a traveling wave field rolls toward shore and disturbed plankton flash blue along the foam line, with live sliders for wave speed, amplitude, plankton density and glow band width.

Nature & Climate2DEasy60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

This 2D companion reads the same traveling-wave formula as the 3D original from a flat canvas view: a height field rolls toward the shoreline, and a scattered field of plankton points only lights up when the wave passes through the narrow "foam band" around the crest, so the glowing line sweeps up the beach exactly where real disturbed plankton would flash. Sliders for wave speed, amplitude, plankton density and band width let you see how each factor changes the shape and brightness of the glow.

⚙ Under the hood

Canvas2D beach scene driven by a sinusoidal traveling-wave height field; plankton points glow when their local wave height falls inside an adjustable band around the crest, approximating mechanoluminescent flash response to wave disturbance.

bioluminescencewave propagationlight emissionmechanoluminescenceocean waves

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install