Category: Ocean

May 21

National Geographic’s “Drain the ocean”

I just finished watching this great 2 hour show called “Drain the ocean” by National Geographic and it was amazing. So much in fact, that I want to share with you, dear reader, some of what I learned today.

In a nutshell, the program demonstrates what the ocean floor terrain is like by using CGI animation. Great landscapes and features are unravelled as the ocean is drained. Here are some pictures, videos and some information all available at http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/drain-the-ocean-3639/Overview#tab-Overview.

VIDEOS

First of all, here is a short video where chimneys spewing super-hot water create a unique environment along the ocean floor. Here, countless giant tubeworms flourish.

In this video, off the island of Oahu, strange structures below the ocean’s surface may provide evidence of an explosion of colossal proportions.

INTERACTIVE MAP

The site features an interactive map where ocean landscapes are compared to land landscapes.

The Mid Oceanic Ridge, running along the centre of the ocean basins, is the planet’s longest mountain chain at more than 40,000 miles long.

Mid Oceanic Ridge
In contrast, the longest system of exposed, surface mountain ranges on earth is the Andes at 5,000 miles long.
Andes
The Bahama islands are just tips of a huge underwater structure called The Great Bahama bank, which rises sharply for more than two miles from the Atlantic abyssal plain.
Great Bahama bank
This is more than twice as high as Half Dome, which rises 5,000 feet above Yosemite Valley.
Half Dome
Deep water coral mounds are scattered all along the Florida channel.  One of the largest “Matterhorn” coral hill is 393 feet high.
Coral mound

The famous Miami Brickell Avenue skyline stretches to similar heights of those underwater coral mounds.

Miami Brickell Avenue skyline
At nearly 300 miles long, and about a mile from the rim to the bottom the Monterey Canyon is almost the same size as Arizona’s Grand Canyon.
Monterey Canyon
While the Grand Canyon was carved by the Colorado river, scientists think underwater avalanches may have carved the Monterey Canyon.
Grand Canyon 
Off the north coast of the island ofd Oahu are bizarre underwater structures, the aftermath of a spectacular explosion.  the Tuscaloosa seamount is flat on top with very steep, jagged slopes along the side.
Tuscaloosa seamount
At a mile thick and over 4,500 square feet, the Tuscaloosa seamount rivals the size of the city of Atlanta.
City of Atlanta
Last but not least, the Big Island of Hawaii is home to Mauna Loa, the world’s biggest volcano, which rises 13,500 feet above sea level, but extending deep into the ocean.
Mauna Loa
If Mount Everest where placed on seafloor next to Mauna Loa, Mauna loa would be taller by more than 4,000 feet.
Mount Everest
INTERESTING FACTS 
Below the surface of the Earth’s oceans lies a mysterious and relatively unknown world. With an enormous diversity of life, the ocean remains one of the world’s largest ecosystems, though we still known very little about what lives in its great depths. Go beneath the water and learn more surprises of the sea:
  • Water covers more than three quarters of the globe.
  • We know the surface of Mars or Venus better than Earth’s ocean floor.
  • Only about 5% of the global ocean floor has been mapped in detail.
  • Average ocean depths are approximately 2.2 miles, nearly 12,000 feet, deep.
  • The mid ocean ridges of the world are so long they could go right around the Earth one and a half times.
  • Overall, the diversity of the deep sea rivals that of rain forests on land.
  • There are up to 100,000 underwater mud volcanoes on continental slopes and abyssal plains – formed by gas escaping from some underground source under high pressure.
  • There are between 70,000 and 100,000 sea mounts more than half a mile tall in the world’s ocean and as many as one million features over 328 feet tall.
  • The Mid Oceanic Ridge is the world’s longest mountain chain being more than 35,000 miles, running along the center of the ocean basins and joining up around the globe like the seams on a basketball.
  • Iceland is one of the few places where you can stand on the Mid Atlantic ridge on dry land.

THE END

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Posted in National Geographic, Ocean, video