Beautiful World

09/07/2022

Ocean Facts That Will Blow You Out of the Water

1Thanks to the ocean, most of our planet is dark.

Oceans have an average depth of 12,100 feet, and because light waves can only pe*****te 330 feet of water, everything below that point is dark. Seeing as water makes up most of the planet, this means that most of Earth exists in absolute darkness all the time.

2The loudest ocean sound came from an icequake.

In 1997, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) captured one of the loudest sounds ever recorded, which they named "The Bloop." The sound was loud enough to be picked up by sensors over 3,000 miles away. Originally, researches noted that the nature of the sound made it seem like it came from an animal, although no known animal exists that is large enough to make that sound. After 15 years, the NOAA concluded that the noise came from an icequake, which is when seismic activities cause a break in frozen ground. However, many people still question this conclusion, and The Bloop is the source of many conspiracy theories to this day.

Blue tang swimming in coral reef
Willem Kalkwiek/Shutterstock
You probably know that the majority of our planet's surface is covered by bodies of water. (Specifically: It's a hair shy of 71%.) What you might not have heard, though, is that sea waves can move at hundreds of miles per hour. Or that the ocean's depths are home to millions of tons of gold. Or that scientists have more detailed, more extensive maps of Mars than they do of our own oceans. Yes, as deep as our planet's oceans are physically, they're deeper still when it comes to mystery and fascination. The following little-known facts about the ocean are sure to blow you out of the water.

09/07/2022

Moon Facts That Are Out of This World.

1Thanks to the ocean, most of our planet is dark.
Dark underwater cave
Shutterstock
Oceans have an average depth of 12,100 feet, and because light waves can only pe*****te 330 feet of water, everything below that point is dark. Seeing as water makes up most of the planet, this means that most of Earth exists in absolute darkness all the time.

2The loudest ocean sound came from an icequake.
Ship sailing through icy ocean in Greenland
Shutterstock
In 1997, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) captured one of the loudest sounds ever recorded, which they named "The Bloop." The sound was loud enough to be picked up by sensors over 3,000 miles away. Originally, researches noted that the nature of the sound made it seem like it came from an animal, although no known animal exists that is large enough to make that sound. After 15 years, the NOAA concluded that the noise came from an icequake, which is when seismic activities cause a break in frozen ground. However, many people still question this conclusion, and The Bloop is the source of many conspiracy theories to this day.

3The ocean's canyons make the Grand Canyon seem small.

Not to take anything away from the gorgeous Grand Canyon on Earth, but the Zhemchug Canyon, located in the Bering Sea, has a vertical relief of 8,520 feet—almost 2,500 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon.

4The biggest ocean waves are beneath its surface.

The biggest ocean waves are not the ones that you can see from the shoreline. As physical oceanographer Kim Martini told Deep Sea News, the largest waves that occur in the ocean are called internal waves, which take place between two fluids with two different densities. As these internal waves travel—for thousands of miles, no less—they can grow to be 650 feet tall.

5Water at the bottom of the ocean is incredibly hot.

In these deepest parts of the ocean, the water temperature may only be 2º to 4º Celsius, with the exception of water coming out of hydrothermal vents in the seafloor. The water released from these vents can be up to 400º Celsius (750º Fahrenheit). It's the intense pressure at these depths—the same pressure that would crush you—that keeps the water from boiling.

6The ocean is home to nearly 95% of all life.

With so much going on well below the surface, it's easy to forget that the oceans are teeming with life. In fact, 94% of life is aquatic, according to the USA Science & Engineering Festival. That means those of us who live on land are part of a very, very small minority.

7Coral produces its own sunscreen.

Too much sunlight can damage the algae that live inside coral in shallow water. To protect the algae, which are a main source of sustenance for the coral, the corals fluoresce. This creates proteins that act as a sort of sunscreen for the algae.

8There's enough gold in the ocean for each of us to have nine pounds of it!

There's around 20 million tons of gold dispersed throughout the oceans. It is, however, diluted pretty much to a pulp—its concentration is only a few parts per trillion, according to the National Ocean Service. The ocean floor also has undissolved gold embedded in it, but it's not cost-effective to mine it. However, if the ocean's gold were equally distributed among every person on earth, we'd each receive nine pounds of it.

9There's an ice sheet larger than the continental United States.

Just two vestiges of ice remain from our planet's last ice age: the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The latter of the two is staggering in size. Clocking in at 5.4 million square miles, according to the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC), it's roughly the size of the continental United States and Mexico combined!

10Sharks have their own underwater "café."

It turns out, humans aren't the only creatures in need of a winter vacation. In 2002, scientists discovered an area in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean, partway between Baja California and Hawaii, where typically coastal great white sharks will migrate to in the winter. The scientists named the spot the White Shark Café and some sharks hang around the area for months before heading back to the coast for warmer weather.

09/07/2022

First-of-their-kind experiments suggest the world’s largest predatory fish can switch between dark and light gray in a matter of hours.

09/07/2022

09/07/2022

Three times the size of the country’s mainland, the reserve’s abundance of sharks, whales, turtles, and other marine life has been described as an “underwater Jurassic Park.”

07/07/2022

The Pacific Ocean is Earth’s largest ocean basin.
It covers about 63 million square miles, after all.

The wettest place in the world is Mawsynram.
When it comes to annual rainfall, Mawsynram, India takes the cake with over 10,000 millimeters of rain per year. You can thank monsoon season for that!

The most snowfall per year happens in Japan.
Surprising? Perhaps, but Aomori City, Japan may just be the snowiest place in the world. On average, Aomori City experiences 312 inches of snowfall annually.

The world’s largest living structures are coral reefs.
What’s a living structure, you ask? Well, a coral reef is, in fact, alive. According to NOAA, coral reefs are a crucial part to thousands of species per unit of any of the other ecosystems on Earth.

Oceans cover about 70 percent of Earth’s surface.
According to NOAA, about 70 percent of the surface of Earth is covered in oceans.

07/07/2022

However, humans haven’t even discovered all of Earth’s oceans.
But that doesn’t mean we’ve explored it all! The NOAA adds that we—meaning, humans—have only discovered about 20 percent of Earth’s waters.

The largest earthquake to hit Earth occurred in Chile.
With a massive magnitude of 9.5, the world’s largest earthquake took place in Bio-Bio, Chile on May 22, 1960.

About 20 percent of the U.S. is a coastline.
However, that’s not including Alaska.

Stromboli Volcano is the world’s most active volcano.
Contrary to popular belief, of course, as historically, Kilauea—in Hawaii—has been recorded as such. But it’s not true. Located off the coast of Italy, the aptly-named Stromboli Volcano has been non-stop erupting for more than 2,000 years.

Rocks have been known to “walk” at The Racetrack Playa, Death Valley.
In a specific part of Death Valley National Park in California—known as The Racetrack Playa or The Racetrack—rocks have been known to “walk” on their own. According to NASA, these ice-encrusted “sailing stones” as they’re called retain meltwater from the hills above, allowing the wind to pick them up and throw them around. This phenomenon has been known to leave “racetrack” imprints on the ground—hence its moniker.

One stroke of lightning heats the air to about 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
That translates to 30,000 degrees Celsius. In other words, hot!

Humans tend to live near the coastline.
What can we say? We love a coastal view. In fact, coastlines are where 40 percent of the U.S. population makes their home, according to NOAA.

07/07/2022

Earth is home to three deadly, explosive lakes.
We’re not kidding. Nyos, Monoun, and Kivu are three crater lakes located above volcanic earth. Located in Cameroon, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, each of these lakes is situated on top of magma. The surface emits carbon dioxide into the lakes, leaving a layer of carbon dioxide that eventually can be released by way of the explosion. And yes—it’s deadly. Just think of how much CO2 and explosion like that would release!

The world’s longest mountain range is actually underwater.
Shocking—right?! Known as the mid-ocean ridge, the world’s longest mountain range is an underwater chain of volcanoes that spans 40,389 miles, according to NOAA.

Over the millions of years, sea levels have changed.
Sea levels on Earth have not always remained the same. According to NASA, sea levels have been anywhere from 230 feet higher than they are now to 390 feet lower in the past.

07/07/2022

Waste left over from the coffee-making process can jolt destroyed forests back to life.

07/07/2022

A school of scalloped hammerhead sharks, Sphyrna lewini, swim in a blue ocean, Cocos Island. SharkFest returns to National Geographic and Disney+ July 10.

05/07/2022

Earth kinda, sorta has other “moons.”
Well, kind of. Called 3753 Cruithne and Asteroid 2002 AA29 —two asteroids that also orbit the sun—are sometimes considered Earth’s “moons” even though they don’t really fit the bill. Both asteroids remain very close to Earth—as close as 3.9 million miles every 95 years.

The Amazon is Earth’s biggest rainforest.
Located in the South American Amazon, the world’s biggest rainforest is where more than 30 million people and one in 10 known species on Earth call home.

The deepest point on the ocean floor is 36,200 feet below sea level.
It’s located in the Mariana Trench, according to NOAA.

Earth has a type of “recycled” rock cycle.
Come again? Earth has a rock cycle—igneous rocks transform to sedimentary rocks, then to metamorphic, then back again. Some scientists and experts think of this or refer to it as a “recycled” ground since the rocks change cyclically.

Earth’s lowest point not covered by the ocean is 8,382 feet below sea level.
But it’s impossible to get to. That’s because it’s located under layers and layers of ice in the Bentley Subglacial Trench in Antarctica.

Greenland is the world’s largest island.
It’s about one-fourth the size of Australia and is the world’s largest island that is not a continent in and of itself.

There are billions of people living on Earth.
As of 2020, that number is as big as 7.753 billion.

05/07/2022

Africa is the second-largest continent.
Africa covers about 5,000 miles—more than three times the wingspan of the U.S.

The world’s largest hot desert is in Africa.
The Sahara is Earth’s largest hot desert. Surprisingly though, it’s not the world’s largest desert…

Europe is the second smallest continent in size but the third largest in population.
Europe spans 1.634 million mi² but has an estimated population of 748,367,117 as of 2022.

Antarctica is Earth’s fifth-largest continent.
It may not be the largest or even the smallest continent (it’s kind of just stuck in the middle) but Antarctica stores most of the world’s freshwater—but more on that later.

The Antarctic Ice Cap contains 70 percent of Earth’s freshwater.
According to the American Museum of Natural History, only a little over 3 percent of the world’s water is freshwater. The rest (96 percent) is salt—or saline—and is found in the ocean.

About 90 percent of Earth’s freshwater is locked in ice.
That freshwater located in Antarctica? About 90 percent of it isn’t even water at all—it’s locked inside frozen polar ice sheets.

Antarctica is technically a desert.
Hard to believe, right, given all that fresh water and ice? But it’s true, as Antarctica sees an average of about 2 inches of precipitation per year.