Countless mysteries and unexplainable discoveries lurk beneath the ocean waves. Since the beginning of ocean exploration. We’ve only properly mapped about 5% of the ocean floor despite 70% of our planet being covered in seawater. Scientists and researchers have spent centuries trying to understand exactly what calls it home, however, there are still many things that not even years of research can explain; and there are still many more waiting for us.
Seafaring explorers, navigators, and oceanographers started sailing, observing and documenting traits of the ocean waves, storms, and currents in the form of legends and myths ever since humans first neared the waters. However, proper exploration of these enormous bodies of water only started about 2,850 years ago (850 BC), and modern oceanography wasn’t deemed a field of science until about 130 years ago, in the late 1800s. The first scientific expedition to explore the world’s oceans and the seafloor was the Challenger Expedition, which lasted for four years from 1872 to 1876. A small British warship, the HMC Challenger, was sent out into the sea and converted into the first dedicated oceanographic ship with its own laboratories, microscopes, and other scientific equipment.
Since then, however, the never-ending advancement of technology has allowed humans to discover and unearth many more things. In 2017 alone, researchers discovered the deepest recorded fish in the sea, mapped enormous craters found in the Barents Sea near Norway, and a mostly submerged landmass near Australia named Zealandia was officially recognized as a continent. These are all very important discoveries and will forever change the way we view our oceans.
But confronting the unknown is never easy, and many mysteries still leave unanswered questions. Recently, using a remotely operated vehicle to examine largely unexplored areas, sea explorers found a dozen sets of holes, almost in perfectly straight lines, on the ocean floor north of the Azores, near Portugal’s mainland. When scientists first heard about it, they had no idea what to make of it. “The holes look human-made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something.” said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Exploration project. Scientists, although having encountered similar situations before, still have no clue as to what the origin of the holes could be.
“There is something important going on there and we don’t know what it is,” Michael Vecchione, an NOAA deep-sea biologist, said. “This highlights the fact that there are still mysteries out there.” Maybe one day we’ll find a species of invisible fish, maybe we’ll find a whole new species we’ve never seen before. Whatever it may be, people all over the world continue to be fascinated by the deep ocean blue.
Seafaring explorers, navigators, and oceanographers started sailing, observing and documenting traits of the ocean waves, storms, and currents in the form of legends and myths ever since humans first neared the waters. However, proper exploration of these enormous bodies of water only started about 2,850 years ago (850 BC), and modern oceanography wasn’t deemed a field of science until about 130 years ago, in the late 1800s. The first scientific expedition to explore the world’s oceans and the seafloor was the Challenger Expedition, which lasted for four years from 1872 to 1876. A small British warship, the HMC Challenger, was sent out into the sea and converted into the first dedicated oceanographic ship with its own laboratories, microscopes, and other scientific equipment.
Since then, however, the never-ending advancement of technology has allowed humans to discover and unearth many more things. In 2017 alone, researchers discovered the deepest recorded fish in the sea, mapped enormous craters found in the Barents Sea near Norway, and a mostly submerged landmass near Australia named Zealandia was officially recognized as a continent. These are all very important discoveries and will forever change the way we view our oceans.
But confronting the unknown is never easy, and many mysteries still leave unanswered questions. Recently, using a remotely operated vehicle to examine largely unexplored areas, sea explorers found a dozen sets of holes, almost in perfectly straight lines, on the ocean floor north of the Azores, near Portugal’s mainland. When scientists first heard about it, they had no idea what to make of it. “The holes look human-made, but the little piles of sediment around them suggest they were excavated by … something.” said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Exploration project. Scientists, although having encountered similar situations before, still have no clue as to what the origin of the holes could be.
“There is something important going on there and we don’t know what it is,” Michael Vecchione, an NOAA deep-sea biologist, said. “This highlights the fact that there are still mysteries out there.” Maybe one day we’ll find a species of invisible fish, maybe we’ll find a whole new species we’ve never seen before. Whatever it may be, people all over the world continue to be fascinated by the deep ocean blue.
