Oceanographic surveyors of the sea floor in the area of the Bermuda Triangle and the North Sea region between continental Europe and Great Britain have discovered significant quantities of methane hydrates and older eruption sites.
Because of the correlations and existing data, the two envisioned what would happen when gigantic methane bubbles explode from natural fissures on the seafloor.
Makes sense to me. There would be no warning, and nothing you could do. You might be able to set up a warning system for aircraft, though, perhaps with satellite monitoring. I don’t think that ships would have the ability to escape. Too slow and unmaneuverable. Better to avoid the area, or perhaps to better map the deposits, and put them on the charts like other hazards.
[Via Geekpress]
As noted there, that comment section is where ships go to die.
I’m not sure why this is news, since the original paper seems to have been published in 2003 (if we’re talking about this Joseph Monaghan).
I can only find an abstract of the article online, but I find it interesting that the areas he’s focusing on are:
1) Heavily trafficked by ships and planes
2) Notably stormy
3) Have large stretches of dangerous coastline (the north coast of Haiti, for example, is particularly rugged, as is the Scottish coast)
4) Are swept by currents that would push debris out of the area
In short, these are exactly the areas you’d expect to find above-average ship- and plane- wrecks.
There is no mystery to be solved. Larry Kusche’s book “The Bermuda Triangle Mystery — Solved” established that many of the claimed “disappearances” weren’t mysterious at all, and the region has no more ship and plane losses than anyplace else with comparable traffic. He published that book in 1975. The Bermuda Triangle “mystery” should be as dead as the “Shaver Mystery” or the chess-playing Turk.
The only “mystery” about the Bermuda Triangle is why anyone still believes there’s anything mysterious going on, and wastes time looking for causes of a phenomenon which doesn’t exist.
Trimegistus – yeah, I remember reading that book years ago, before I sailed the Triangle. I was (and am) amazed at the lengths writers go to add mystery to what were simple cases of ships sinking in storms.
The Bermuda Triangle “mystery” should be as dead as the “Shaver Mystery” or the chess-playing Turk.
So basically the skeptics are saying there is no mystery to begin with, the believers will probably say something like this proposed solution is just a coverup for the space warp thingeys, and finally, as usual, the Deros will not be reachable for comment.
The Bermuda Triangle Mystery was one of those 1970’s things that everyone was into. Like “new age” cults and the like. I noticed that the Kusche book was published in 1981, just when all of this 1970’s stuff started declining in popularity.
Its the same thing with UFO sightings. You will note that there has been a marked decline in UFO sightings since the advent of the internet.
“You will note that there has been a marked decline in UFO sightings since the advent of the internet.”
Everyone’s too busy inside blogging to be outside seeing them. 🙂
I thought the guys on MythBusters debunked this a few years ago as well, but I may not be remembering this correctly. At any rate, someone built a ten square yard grid with a bunch of cross connects out of PFC pipe, drilled a bunch of holes in the pipes and then connected the entire array to an air compressor and secured it to the bottom in about ten feet of water. When they cranked up the air and the bubbles started flowing, their assistant simply rowed a boat across the active grid and promptly sank. They sank fast, too, like rowing over a waterfall. Apparently the bubbles displaced sufficient liquid to negate the buoyancy of the boat.
Everyone’s too busy inside blogging to be outside seeing them.
Given how pervasive pocket size still and video camera’s have become in our society thanks to the cell phone, I amazed that we don’t see 100’s of more authentic UFO or crypto-zoology images splashed across the Internet everyday. Hmmm.
Sinking a ship by reducing the density of water works – modern torpedos and pressure mines work on that principle. It is entirely possible a ship or two has been sunk by a natural occurance of this type. But so many factors would have to align for that to happen as to make it a very rare event indeed.
“But so many factors would have to align for that to happen as to make it a very rare event indeed.”
I’m guessing it’s not as rare as an alien abduction or falling into rip in the time space continuum. 🙂
I’ve got a friend who used to work as an electronics tech on a floating drilling ship about 30 years ago. They never liked looking for shallow gas as a blowout might sink the ship. So the problem has been recognized for a long time
As a Florida resident, I’ve never believed the “Bermuda Triangle” exists.
I’ve never known a hurricane passing through the area to suddenly disappear.
Don’t even suggest a conspiracy of “Nature”.
Jiminator:
I remember seeing a demonstration on TV similar to what you described, but I don’t think it was Mythbusters. I don’t remember what show it was.
OK so the methane creates bubbles that negate a ships bouyancy, or knock a plane out of the sky. The question is, how do the UFOs get the methane down there to begin with. Huh? Huh?
Two words, Schtumpy: Atlantean Farts.
Elvis needs boats, man.
Given how pervasive pocket size still and video camera’s have become in our society thanks to the cell phone, I amazed that we don’t see 100’s of more authentic UFO or crypto-zoology images splashed across the Internet everyday. Hmmm.
Getting serious for a second, there’s an actual explanation for this. Ten megapixel sensor chips are all over the place, but they’re all attached to little and in many instances plastic and not glass lenses, in a package a total of 1/4″ thick… the _average_ camera today is pretty lousy, but we’re distracted from this by the stupid megapixel count. Cameras with decent lenses seem to be as scarce and expensive as they’ve always been.
I finally got a cell phone with a camera and was very disappointed by the quality of the photos.