Mystery may be Solved

ojai22 · November 25th, 2003, 05:29 PM

This is from the Health and Science page of THE WEEK.

The Secret of the Bermuda Triangle

Has the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle been solved? The dozens of lost ships and airplanes in that storied region of the Atlantic Ocean could have been caused by giant bubbles of gas rising from the ocean floor, say Australian researchers. Pockets of methane underneath the seabed sometimes erupt, spewing bubbles. Using a toy boat, researchers at Monash University in Melbourne tested the theory that these bubbles could sink ships. A single giant bubble, it turned out, was enough to upend a boat if it struck it at a certain angle.

"In the Bermuda Triangle, methane gas is known to be present," researcher Joseph Monaghan tells the Melbourne Age, "and the release of that gas could cause not only boats to sink, as shown in our study, but also airplanes to crash."

Monaghan says that the rising gas could make hot engines explode, causing the planes to crash.Age

There have been movies and TV shows made about this mystery, books have been written, imaginations have soared. Can it all be reduced to a bubble of gas?

ojai22

Proximo · November 26th, 2003, 01:13 PM

Funnily enough... yes. The ocean floor contains absolutely masses of methane and carbonates trapped in sediment. There's at least one documented case of an oil rig in the north sea (it's the sea between scotland and norway for those that don't know) sinking very fast after disturbing methane-containing sediment on the seabed. This guy seems to have got it wrong though. The methane comes up as billions of tiny bubbles, not one huge one, which effectively turn the local area in to a very damp patch of air. You can imagine what would happen to a ship if that came up under it. Nothing survives, because they have no bouyancy in the water anymore, so even a guy jumping in would just sink in seconds. In legend they're called Witches Holes and were supposed to be caused by witches who wanted to sink a ship at sea.

Anyway, it's a very likely cause. Silent but Deadly?

Flamingo Girl · November 27th, 2003, 11:25 PM

Instead of UFOs kidnapping ships and sending them into a time warp to another dimention, now they've decided the mysterious Bermuda Triangle is really sea-farts?

Muffit · November 28th, 2003, 02:21 PM

LOL FG!

Faust · November 29th, 2003, 12:47 PM

The Bermuda triangle is a bad joke anyways. We are talking like a dozen ships sinking in a huge hundreds of miles radius over 100s of years. Those planes that have dissapeared were found somewhere else we now know that they got lost. This Bermuda triangle is fake I believe in some other weirdly things but not the bermuda triangle.

Proximo · November 29th, 2003, 04:48 PM

Oh it's real, but it's not quite in the way peole like to believe. The gulf stream runs right through the area, and ther ehave been very unusual geomagnetic and atmospheric phenomenon recorded in the area. The temperature gradient between the relatively warm gulf stream and the colder midatlantic ocean can bring on rapid cloud formation, mists and other stuff. Any ships that happen to be disabled are quickly taken out in to the atlantic by the gulf stream and, of course, the sudden weather changes can bring on really bad turbulence. Coupled with these apparent 'sea farts', you have your explanation.

In one sense, statistically, the triangle isn't that unusual. The world-wide average loss of shipping is approximately one ship per week, if I recall correctly. What's unusual is that a lot of the losses happened inside this one area, very rapidly, along with planes and other such stuff. The simple fact is though that hundreds of ships pass through the area every week and don't sink. It's just that the place has a reputation, and there's statistical evidence to back it up. Nothing mystical about it. It's just really bad luck.

And sea farts.