Bermuda Triangle
Introduction
Edward Van Winkle Jones wrote an article on September 17, 1950, in which he made the first mention of inexplicable disappearances. It was the first time anybody had mentioned them before. In 1961, a crew of five Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers from the United States Navy was sent on a training mission to Mars. A flight leader was overheard stating, “We are approaching white water, and nothing appears to be right. We have no idea where we are, and the water is green rather than white.”
Legends, it is claimed, are made up of amazing stories that have survived the passage of time. The enigma of the Bermuda Triangle, like Atlantis or the legend of King Arthur, has all the makings of a legendary tale of adventure. Since the 1950s, this 500,000-square-kilometer region between Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Bermuda islands has been notorious for the recurrent disappearances of ships and planes, which have taken place in the area. Every year, on average, four aircraft and twenty ships go missing without a trace.
For a long time, the reports of sailors proved to be much too incorrect to allow for any real investigation of the phenomena. Diverse far-fetched ideas have been proposed, ranging from the presence of an extraterrestrial trap to the existence of a portal to another realm. Scientists are now putting forward two more serious hypotheses for these occurrences in an attempt to understand them
As a result of modern technology and hydrographic advancements, scientists and divers may utilize sonar to precisely observe the bottom across a large area, providing them with a more complete picture. One hundred and fifty years after it went missing, a shipwreck was discovered in February 2020.
Scientists were able to analyze the mapping of the seabed in this region of the Atlantic, which revealed that Bermuda is located at the summit of an undersea mountain that is over 4,000 meters in elevation. When the composition and texture of the seabed are examined, many reefs are revealed, which are produced by the accumulation of algae, shells, and thick layers of limestone on the seabed’s surface. This arid terrain is characterized by abysses that may be up to 8,000 meters in depth. In contrast, the Mariana Trench, which is the deepest point in the Earth’s crust at 10,994 meters, is the deepest place on the planet.
Consequently, the combination of these topological features with a variety of climatic events may provide light on what caused these disappearances. After diving into the region, Tom Iliffe, a professor of marine biology, discovered the presence of suction vortices and confirmed their existence. “The eddies are clearly visible, and there are large tunnels with very high suction force to accompany them. Eddy theory describes a phenomenon that is often seen in limestone settings, such as the reefs in the Bermuda Triangle. Eddy theory is also known as the “eddy effect.”
On top of all that, the Bermuda Triangle happens to be the epicenter of very severe weather activity. As a convergence site for hurricanes, equatorial storms, and thunderstorms off the coast of Mexico, multiple microbursts of wind blowing at speeds of more than 270 km/h produce waves of unprecedented magnitude and force.
According to British oceanographer Simon Boxall of the University of Southampton, these waves, also known as “walls of water” as they are often referred to, may reach heights of up to 30 meters and have the capability of capsizing big ships in their path. These steep waves, sometimes known as ‘rogue waves,’ often occur inside a wave pattern that is usually undulating. Despite the fact that scientists are still trying to figure out the worldwide dispersion of these rogue waves, they have thrown some light on the enigma surrounding the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle in recent years.
Different Explanations
Paranormal Explanation :-
According to the writers, the Triangle’s occurrences may be explained by a number of supernatural theories. According to one hypothesis, the issue is due to technology left behind from the mythical lost country of Atlantis. The Bimini Road, a submerged rock formation off the coast of the Bahamas island of Bimini that some believe is part of the Atlantis tale, is often associated with the Atlantis myth. Bimini is included in some definitions of the Triangle. While believers describe the creation as a road, wall, or other structure, the Bimini Road is a natural occurrence that developed in the Bahamas thousands of years ago.
Other writers have ascribed the incidents to UFOs. Charles Berlitz, an author of many books on strange occurrences, offers a list of theories positing that the Triangle’s fatalities were caused by anomalous or unexplained forces.
Compass Variations :-
- Many Triangle events have the term “compass difficulties” as one of the key keywords. While some have speculated that there may be unique local magnetic anomalies in the region, no evidence of such abnormalities has been discovered. Compasses have natural magnetic fluctuations in their relationship to the magnetic poles, a fact that navigators have been aware of for hundreds of years. Historically, magnetic (compass) north and geographic (true) north have been identified only in a limited number of locations — for example, as of 2000, in the United States, only those locations along a line extending from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico. A compass “shifting” over a region as vast as the Triangle, as it normally does, may seem odd to those who are not well-informed, leading them to believe something strange has happened.
Gulf Stream :-
- The Gulf Stream is a major surface current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows into the North Atlantic Ocean through the Straits of Florida. It is primarily driven by thermohaline circulation and flows into the North Atlantic Ocean from the North Atlantic Ocean. Simply stated, it is a river inside an ocean that can and does carry floating objects in the same way that a river can and does. It has a top speed of about 2 meters per second (6.6 feet per second). A plane that lands on water or a boat that has engine trouble may be carried away from its reported position by the current.
Human Error :-
- Human error is often given as a reason for the loss of any aircraft or vessel during official investigations. Human stubbornness may have contributed to businessman Harvey Conover’s loss of his sailing boat, Revonoc, on January 1, 1958, when he sailed into the teeth of a hurricane south of Florida.
Violent Weather :-
Hurricanes are very strong storms that develop in tropical seas. Historically, they have claimed thousands of lives and inflicted billions of dollars in damage. In 1502, the Spanish fleet of Francisco de Bobadilla was destroyed by a devastating storm for the first time. These storms have historically resulted in a number of Triangle-related events. Numerous Atlantic storms travel through the Triangle on their way to the Eastern Seaboard, and before the introduction of meteorological satellites, ships often had little to no notice of an approaching hurricane.
A strong downdraft of cold air was suspected of being the cause of the Pride of Baltimore’s sinking on May 14, 1986. The crew of the sinking vessel reported that the wind changed abruptly and increased velocity from 32 kilometers per hour (20 miles per hour) to 97–145 kilometers per hour (60–90 miles per hour). A National Hurricane Center satellite specialist, James Lushine, stated “during very unstable weather conditions the downburst of cold air from aloft can hit the surface like a bomb, exploding outward like a giant squall line of wind and water.” Concordia was involved in a similar incident off the coast of Brazil in 2010. Scientists are now researching if “hexagonal” clouds are responsible for these “air bombs” traveling at speeds of up to 170 mph (270 km/h).
Methane Hydrates :-
The existence of huge fields of methane hydrates (a kind of natural gas) on the continental shelf has been suggested as a possible reason for some of the disappearances. Bubbles have been shown in laboratory tests in Australia to sink a scale model ship by reducing the density of the water; any debris that rises to the surface would be quickly scattered by the Gulf Stream. Periodic methane eruptions (often referred to as “mud volcanoes”) have been theorized to create areas of frothy water incapable of supplying sufficient buoyancy for ships. If this is the case, a zone developing around a ship may cause it to sink quickly and unexpectedly.
The USGS has published many publications describing vast stocks of subsea hydrates globally, including the Blake Ridge region of the southern United States coast. However, the USGS believes that no significant releases of gas hydrates have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle in the last 15,000 years.
Most Frequently Mentioned :-
Among the various hypotheses, magnetic disturbances and oceanic flatulence have frequently been mentioned, i.e. underwater emissions of a highly flammable gas, methane, whose presence in the form of bubbles in the water significantly reduces the density of the resulting gaseous water, to the point of causing boats to lose their buoyancy. The presence of methane in the air lowers its density, which explains why airplanes lose lift; if the quantity is high enough, it also explains why piston or jet engines fail to start.
Decomposition of organic elements such as oil and coal, compressed by the environment’s extreme depth and low temperature, and released during the formation of faults by tectonic activity, has also resulted in the discovery of large deposits in the North Sea, where certain drilling platforms, ships, and aircraft have been engulfed or pulverized by the same phenomenon. This theory was recently bolstered by the publishing of work by Russian Academy of Sciences researcher Anatoli Nesterov. However, as the author admits, no empirical evidence exists to support this hypothesis.
Additionally, in one location, multi-beam sonar imaging revealed a stony underwater plateau bordered by coral reef outcrops. This plateau is the remains of an old volcano that erupted over 1,000 meters above sea level, forming a volcanic island. After the volcano erupted 30 million years ago, wind and rain erosion left only a plateau that was almost entirely submerged by the water at the end of the last ice age. Today, just a tiny island survives on the surface, surrounded by a coral reef (which is much larger than the island). In calm seas, the chance of these Bermuda reefs ripping apart a ship’s hull is higher, since the lack of wind decreases the swell currents that aid sailors in detecting the reef outcrop. This may account for the sinking and disappearance of many ships in this region during calm weather.
Is It Nothing But A Myth…?
Lawrence David Kusche, an American librarian, gathered all available testimony on the topic in 1975. His book, The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Resolved, demonstrates, among other things, that the majority of disappearances occurred outside the Bermuda Triangle and that the literature on the subject was largely speculative, if not outright fabrications and lies, designed to perpetuate the so-called known mystery.
Thus, the Navy Board of Inquiry that examined the loss of the bombers in 1945 made no mention of any unexplained facts or radio signals described by Charles Berlitz in his book on the Bermuda triangle. The aircraft, which were lost during a mission, would have been victims of a fuel deficit and would have been unable to communicate due to the vast distance between them and their base. Concerning the lost ships, they would have been captured in storms or sunk due to construction flaws. According to Kusche, none of the disappearances, contrary to what some writers assert, can be readily explained by meteorological conditions, technological difficulties, or natural disasters (gas, coral, etc.).
Numerous supposed shipwrecks have now been shown to be myths. For some, the puzzle remains unsolved. For others, there is no mystery, save maybe the legend’s spread based on such flimsy evidence.
Apart from a minor reduction in the Earth’s magnetic field, a 2003 program aired by the National Geographic channel made no mention of any specific abnormality observed in this region. However, it notes that there are some of the world’s most severe storms there, occasionally with rogue waves of eight meters or more.
Lloyd’s Insurance Company of London said in 1975 that the “Bermuda Triangle” posed no more risk than other international shipping routes. Insurance firms do not believe it is essential to raise rates for ships or planes transiting this region in 2006.
Conclusion
With mysterious disappearances of ships, aircraft, and people for decades, the Atlantic Ocean’s legendary Bermuda Triangle has captivated the public’s interest.
The unexplained disappearances have prompted some to speculate about unknown and mysterious forces at work. These theories include extraterrestrials abducting humans for scientific study, the influence of the lost continent of Atlantis, vortices that suck objects into alternate dimensions, and other bizarre ideas. Some theories, although not supported by data, are more scientific in nature. Oceanic flatulence (methane gas erupting from ocean sediments) and interruptions in geomagnetic lines of flux are two examples of these phenomena.
Many, if not all, of the disappearances, may be attributed to environmental factors. The Bermuda Triangle is the path taken by the bulk of Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes, and in the days before better weather forecasting, these deadly storms claimed the lives of many ships. In addition, the Gulf Stream has the potential to produce fast, and occasionally severe, shifts in weather patterns. Additionally, because of the huge number of islands in the Caribbean Sea, there are many regions of shallow water that may be hazardous for ship navigation. A “magnetic” compass may sometimes point towards the direction of “true” north, as opposed to the direction of “magnetic” north in the Bermuda Triangle, according to some evidence.
In their view, there are no supernatural causes for maritime catastrophes, according to the United States Navy and the United States Coast Guard. Even the most skeptical science fiction can’t match the combined powers of nature and human fallibility, according to their observations. They also point out that there are no official maps that show the borders of the Bermuda Triangle, which they say is a problem. It is not recognized as an official name by the United States Board of Geographic Names, and there is no official documentation on the region maintained by the board.
Because the ocean has always been an enigmatic environment for people, it may become very dangerous when bad weather or poor navigation are involved. Everywhere in the globe, this is true. According to the available data, unexplained disappearances do not occur at a higher rate in the Bermuda Triangle than they do in any other big, well-traveled section of the ocean.
Seoane Gabriel
Writer
13angle
