The world ocean covers more than 70% of the
Earth’s surface, contains 97% of its water,
and is filled to the brim with mysteries.
Bright red tides, sound anomalies, bizarre
creatures lurking in the ocean’s depths.
One of these enigmas stands out among the
rest: are there indeed black holes in the
Atlantic Ocean?
So check out my list.
1.
Red Tide
One day, you decide to enjoy a stroll along
the beach.
But once you come closer to the shore, you
notice something shocking - the water has
a spine-chilling red color!
This unusual hue is caused by algae - microscopic
marine plants - blooming or rapidly growing
in the ocean waters.
If you think that’s nothing serious, think
twice.
During a red tide, a gallon of seawater can
contain millions of algae, which is extremely
dangerous for birds, marine animals, and even
us, people! Red algae can mess with breathing,
and eating fish and shellfish caught in the
red tide can lead to bad food poisoning!
2.
Milky Sea Phenomenon
On a dark night, you go on an ocean boat trip.
You’re admiring the stars above your head
when suddenly something draws your attention.
You see that somewhere ahead, the ocean water
is glowing with unearthly white light!
Don't panic - you’re a fortunate witness
of the milky sea phenomenon.
The whole shining thing does look eerie but
there’s nothing paranormal about it (even
if sometimes the glowing is so bright, and
its area - so large that it’s visible from
space!).
This phenomenon mostly happens in the Indian
Ocean’s waters.
Scientists haven't agreed yet about the source
of the enigmatic glow.
The most popular idea, though, is that the
ocean starts to gleam when countless glow-in-the-dark
bacteria gather in one place.
But what makes them arrange such massive get-togethers?
Still a mystery.
3.
Green Flashes
Come to see sunset or sunrise near the ocean,
and if you’re lucky, you may notice beautiful
green flashes over the horizon.
Why lucky?
Because usually, these flashes don't last
longer than a couple of seconds, plus, this
phenomenon is quite rare on its own.
You’re more likely to see green flashes
at sunset than at sunrise.
They appear when the atmosphere bends sunlight,
passing through it, and separates it in different
colors, just like a prism splits the light
into tiny rainbows.
Right at the moment when the sun is rising
above the horizon or setting down, the green
light is the most visible.
But on very clear days, violet or blue rays
can make it through the atmosphere, and you’ll
see even more unique blue flashes instead
of the green ones.
4.
Steaming Sea
Frost smoke, sea smoke, steam fog - this phenomenon
has many names.
On a cold day, you can see the ocean literally
smoking!
It has nothing to do with fire though.
The water starts to steam when the wind carrying
cold air bumps into the warm humid air over
the water surface.
The warm air cools down almost immediately.
The result is the very “sea smoke” which
looks pretty much the same as the steam over
a boiling kettle or your breath on a freezing
cold day.
Only on a way, way larger scale.
5.
Underwater Waterfalls
When asked, most people will say that the
tallest waterfall in the world is Angel Falls
in Venezuela.
Indeed, this waterfall is more than 3,000
ft high, which is way higher than the world’s
tallest building - Burj Khalifa!
But the world’s biggest waterfall is actually
underwater c (however confusing it may sound).
The Denmark Strait Cataract - that’s the
name of this mind-boggling phenomenon - lies
beneath the Denmark Strait that separates
Greenland and Denmark.
There, the Nordic Sea’s frigid waters clash
with much warmer Irminger Sea.
The temperature difference makes the cold
water flow underneath the warmer, creating
a drop of 11,500 ft, which is just three times
smaller than the Challenger Deep - the deepest
place on Earth!
The Denmark Strait Cataract also transports
50,000 times more water than Niagara Falls!
6.
The Bloop Sound
For the first (and only) time, the Bloop was
recorded in 1997.
This minute-long, low-frequency sound was
coming from the southern coast of Chile, and
it was so deafeningly loud that underwater
microphones as far as 3,000 miles away could
hear it.
But the most spine-chilling thing about this
noise is that no one has ever heard it again.
No wonder that people all over the world started
to look for explanations: was it the call
of a megalodon, marine dino, giant squid,
or some other undiscovered sea inhabitant?
The excitement escalated after scientists
announced that the noise was 100% not human-made.
Sci-fi lovers were unfortunately left disappointed
when the mystery was solved.
The enigmatic sound was created by a thunderous
underwater icequake - the cracking of the
ice shelf breaking up from Antarctica.
7.
Black Holes in the Ocean
You might not need to fly to space if you
want to take a closer look at a black hole!
Scientists have found something very similar
to black holes in the southern Atlantic Ocean!
A black hole has such an enormous gravitational
pull that once something gets pulled in, it
doesn't have any chance to escape.
Even light can’t get out of a black hole.
Ocean “black holes” seem to be as powerful
as their space relatives.
But instead of catching the light, they do
the same with water.
Ocean eddies are massive whirlpools that are
spinning against the main current.
They usually swirl billions of tons of water,
and most of them are larger than a city.
These whirlpools are so powerful that nothing
trapped by them can escape.
But the scariest thing is that you might not
even notice heading into one of them.
These things are so huge that you won't spot
their boundaries until it’s too late!
Scientists, though, started to explore ocean
vortices with the help of satellites.
That’s how they discovered the borders of
several eddies.
After that, they managed to prove that mathematically,
these whirlpools are the same as mysterious
black holes in space.
Massive eddies are surrounded by super-tight
barriers where the fluid is moving in closed
loops.
Even water can’t get out from the inside
of these loops.
That's why tight ocean vortices kinda play
the role of ginormous containers: water inside
them can be totally different from the ocean
surrounding an eddy!
And I’m not only talking about its temperature
- the salt content inside and outside a whirlpool
often differs as well!
Black-hole-like ocean eddies are surprisingly
stable.
That’s why they often serve as water taxis,
transporting all kinds of microorganisms,
oil, and plastic waste from one part of the
ocean to another.
8.
Brinicles
Remember icicles hanging from your house’s
roof gutter on a sunny winter day?
Now, imagine the same icicle but with length
measuring not in inches but in feet and made
not from rainwater but from super-salty seawater
called brine.
I’ve just described a brinicle - one of
the most astounding phenomena happening in
the bitterly cold waters of the Arctic and
Antarctica.
When surface seawater freezes and forms ice,
it exudes salt.
This makes some of the nearby water much saltier
than before.
And the saltier the water, the lower its freezing
point is.
The result is pockets of ocean brine trapped
in ice packs.
Once this ice cracks, you can observe something
bizarre and amazing: the brine starts to leak
out.
It’s saltier and denser than the surrounding
water, that’s why it starts to sink toward
the bottom.
Along the way, the super-cold brine comes
into contact with not-so-cold water and freezes
it.
That’s when you can see an ice tube forming
around the sinking brine!
Congrats, you’re witnessing the appearance
of a brinicle - or ice stalactite.
It usually takes a brinicle four to twelve
hours to reach the ocean floor.
9.
Underwater Crop Circles
For the first time, underwater crop circles
were spotted in 1995 close to Japan’s southern
coast.
Local divers called these 7-ft-wide artfully
patterned structures “mystery circles.”
The enigma had been plaguing many minds for
almost 16 years until the culprit was finally
caught.
Imagine the researchers’ surprise when it
turned out to be a male pufferfish!
The fish needs a bit more than a week to build
one circle, and the aesthetics are obviously
crucial!
A male is swimming inside the circle digging
valleys in the sand with its fins.
But that’s not all: the fish also use shells
and corals to decorate particular parts of
their circles!
But the whole “build-a-circle” thing has
a practical purpose as well.
The way a male fish swims pushes the sand
toward the center of the circle and creates
a mound which later serves as a nest.
Ah, he’s getting ready to be a daddy.
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