Dashboarding… Biolumenescent Dinoflagellates?

If you’re familiar with the general carbon dioxide/oxygen exchange on the planet, you may know that trees and terrestrial plant life are not the primary providers of oxygen. That medal is proudly worn upon the non-neck of trillions upon trillions of microscopic creatures called phytoplankton.

What’s more, specific species of these phytoplankton exhibit incredible talents. Not only do they convert CO2 to O2 at an incredibly efficient rate (as far as photosynthesis goes), but some of them are so talented as to put on a pretty incredible light show while they do it!

Enter Pyrocystis fusiformis and Lingulodinium polyedra!

Two diatoms that can be cultured with relative ease.

As as with any project, we’re looking to track the health and wellbeing of this culture, as well as how changes to its environment effect its CO2/O2 exchange rate. With metrics collected through Prometheus and dashboarded in Grafana, we’ll be using a number of generally available atmospheric and temperature sensors, as well as measuring their bioluminescence in lumens to see if there’s any correlation between their Rave Power and their hunger for atmospheric carbon!

Edit: Due to the irony of trying to explore solutions to climate change while experiencing climate change, our most recent shipment of diatoms were sent out during California’s 2022 Heat Wave, and unfortunately expired in transit. We have a new set on the way, so watch this space for changes soon!