The fright that became light
It was past ten in the evening when I learned the sea was lit. An electric blue came from inside the water, millions of cells that respond to the touch of the waves by transforming their very fright into light.
Field Notes
Field
Notes
Observations, questions and fragments from the field, between the low tide and the satellite.
It is a field diary, short entries written close to the moment, between the observation and the analysis. Bioluminescence at Palm Beach. The chemistry of Champagne Pool. The mangrove that is no longer there and what the satellite cannot record. Science and attention, in the places where the two have not yet fully separated.
The Earth's interior at the edge
The edge of Champagne Pool boils at 75°C and has an orange that catches the eye before any explanation. It is not algae or pigment: it is the precise point where the minerals rising from the depths cool and precipitate.
What the satellite cannot see
Between 1990 and 2023, the island lost around 6 hectares of dense vegetation, almost a fifth of what existed. The number comes from Google Earth Engine. But there is a layer of loss that no satellite image records.