Depending on who you ask, there exists not one—but two—final frontiers of discovery. Deep space has long captivated our imaginations, but the deep ocean, right here on Earth, remains one of the most underexplored places known to humans.
Only five percent of the seafloor has been topographically imaged, which leaves 65 percent of the entire planet (not counting land masses) relatively unknown. Yet, since the dawn of space exploration, NASA has thoroughly mapped Mercury, the dwarf planet Ceres, almost all of Venus, and even the Red Planet, some 140 million miles away. And don’t forget the stunningly detailed satellite images of the Moon’s every nook and cranny.
So basically ONLY 5% of the ocean has been discovered!
THEORIES THAT WILL HAUNT US UP UNTIL THE PRESENT DAY
GIANT SQUIDS – This huge animal could be the mythical kraken featured in Pirates of the Caribbean and Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Although it’s unlikely that the giant squid actually attacked ships, very little is known about this mysterious creature of the deep. It wasn’t even photographed alive until 2004 and not filmed until several years later, when it was caught at the surface. Only their cousin the colossal squid might be bigger in weight, although probably not length—but even less is known about them.
THE BLOOP SOUND– Nothing like the mysterious “bloop” sound recorded in the South Pacific in 1997 had ever been heard before. It was very loud, low-frequency, and had a unique pattern that made some think it was a newly discovered creature lurking in the depths. Researchers continued to look for the origin of the noise for years, until in 2005 they announced it had been an “ice quake,” which occurs when icebergs break off of glaciers. Although that reasoning has been generally accepted, some conspiracy theorists still feel the explanation is a little thin.
Let’s just hope scientists would discover the vast emptiness of our sea to lessen the fears of thalassophobic people who would want to swim in a lake.
Anonymous
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