https://phys.org/news/2018-06-ocean-carbon-imaged-atomic-scale.html

While dissolved organic carbon mainly originates from the surface of the ocean from modern phytoplankton, paradoxically, the mean age (as determined by radiocarbon dating) is about 2,400 years older than we would expect! This indicates that a portion of the carbon survives multiple deep ocean mixing cycles. There are several debated paradigms to explain this enigma. One major theory suggests the long persistence of the deep ocean carbon is explained by its chemical structure.  However, the structure of dissolved organic carbon has never been imaged, until now.

Breaking the barriers with synergistic collaborations across disciplinesEmerging tools in analytical chemistry along with chemical oceanography are breaking down the barriers to gain a fuller appreciation of surface and deep dissolved organic carbon. The complexity of compounds in dissolved organic carbon is vast.  This oceanic carbon pool contains many thousands of different molecules. At IBM, we use an atomic force microscope (AFM) to image individual molecules with atomic resolution to identify their molecular structure – a method invented by IBM scientists in 2009.