90% of the Earth's surface resides below the oceans, but only 5% of it has been visually examined by humans. Scientists have managed to map the whole ocean floor, but the resolution is exceedingly poor, so we can only visualise things that are greater than three miles. This is despite the oft-cited statement that we know more about the surface of Mars than the ocean's seabed. The goal of ongoing studies like Seabed 2030 is to sharpen our view of the ocean floor so that we can see and comprehend what lies beneath. We may simply savour the most breathtaking deep-sea scenery for the time being.
Inexplicable "milky" casts to the sea as far as the eye can see have been described by sailors for hundreds of years, but scientists have not been able to explain them or even confirm whether they were real. Scientists were able to take a satellite photo of a milky sea in 2006, and a few years later experiments revealed the light was probably caused by bioluminescent bacteria that attract fish in order to be eaten and live in their stomachs. However, it is still unclear how or why the germs amass in such large numbers that they can be observed from space. In contrast to the more frequently observed "dinoflagellate" organisms that emit fleeting bursts of light, their glow is also constant.
2016 saw the discovery of a mysterious purple blob on the ocean floor off the coast of California by scientists from the Ocean Exploration Trust, which was established by oceanographer and Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard. Unsure of what it may be, the scientists jokingly dubbed it Blobus purpilis and joked that it might be a spider egg sac or a "tiny momma octopus" before engaging in combat with a crab to recover the specimen. It resembles a bizarre, captivating jellyfish in several ways. Although there is still much to learn about the orb, it is assumed to be a brand-new species of the snail family velutinids. Here are some more of the most breathtaking underwater pictures ever captured.
On the ocean floor, may there be an alien spacecraft? 2011 saw the discovery of an oval-shaped object with unusual markings in the Baltic Sea by underwater investigators. The resulting "images" of the alien discovery, which were actually fabricated by a graphic artist, spread swiftly on the Internet (the only accurate visualisation is a pixelated sonar image). The anomaly's origins are unknown until additional investigation, but scientists believe it to be a glacial deposit or another natural creation. The future? Of course, one of the greatest unanswered questions regarding the universe is whether intelligent alien life even exists.
This enormous creature may be the legendary kraken from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Pirates of the Caribbean. The gigantic squid is a strange creature of the deep, and nothing is known about it, despite the fact that it is doubtful that it ever assaulted ships. It wasn't even captured on camera while it was still alive until 2004 and wasn't captured on film until after that, when it was caught at the surface. In 2012, underwater video was made possible. Although some estimates suggest they can grow up to 66 feet in height, scientists know very little about the lives of these deep-sea giants. Even less is known about them than their relative, the enormous squid, which may be larger in weight but not likely in length.
Although we don't have much knowledge of ocean scenery, what we have seen suggests that it may be quite comparable to that on land and is just as spectacular. "Brine pools," where the concentration of salt water is higher than the ocean, produce shorelines and surfaces resembling lakes. The tallest waterfall on land is just 3,212 feet tall; the largest waterfall on Earth is really underwater in the Denmark Strait, where colder water cascades down a significant dip in the ocean floor, plunging 11,500 feet. Underwater volcanoes erupt; the most significant one in recorded history just occurred, and scientists nearly missed it. All of these phenomena are known to exist, but their precise mechanics are still under investigation, making them one of the puzzling science mysteries that no one has been able to solve.
The biggest animal to ever live on Earth, these mystery marine giants are enormous. But there aren't many of them around to study, in part because the whaling trade nearly wiped them off and they reproduce slowly. The lifespan of these elusive organisms, the age at which they become sexually mature, and the mechanics of their reproduction are all unknowns as a result. The animals are challenging to monitor due to their timid nature. Experts were divided in 2017 about whether or not a film of blue whale behaviour off Sri Lanka that had never before been seen, including rolling and racing, was actually a mating ritual. To see if they can find out more, the researchers intend to come back this summer.
