We, humans, are getting advanced day by day, from exploring Quarks, the smallest particle ever known, to getting the actual image of a black hole. HOW DEEP IS THE OCEAN ? We have put a marvelous remark when it comes to the advancement of technology and exploring outer space. But what about our own planet? Big oceans, undiscovered marine lives? Let’s talk about oceans today; ocean covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, yet we don’t often realize just how truly deep and mysterious it is.
Reports by National Ocean Service shows that around 95% of the ocean is still unexplored, meaning that we really have no idea what lies deep down beneath the surface.
Table of Contents
HOW DEEP IS THE OCEAN ?
Let’s take a different approach to explore how deep is the ocean. Let’s say that you took the highest point on the land and submerged it deep down in the ocean, guess what? you would still have more than a mile between you and the deepest point in the ocean. The oceans contain 99% of all living space on earth. With this much water, you can fill a bathtub that will be about 685 miles long on each side of the scale.
The blue whale is the largest mammal on the planet which hunt at the depth of around 330 feet within the well-lit zone of the ocean. Deeper down at 700 feet the “USS Triton” became the first submarine to circumnavigate the earth in 1960.
DEEPEST FREE DIVE – HOW DEEP IS THE OCEAN ?
After that, we have the deepest free dive recorded in history, which is at 831 feet down in the ocean, having 26 times greater pressure than at the surface. This much pressure would crush the human lungs. But whales manage to dive at the max depth of 1640 feet where they able to hunt the giant squid. Let’s go deeper, at 2400 feet we reached the danger zone for modern nuclear attack, submarines any deeper would implode.
World tallest building; The Burj Khalifa will end its tip at 2722 feet down in the ocean. A little farther, at 3280 feet we’ve come to the point where the sunlight can’t reach us. It is the midnight zone where many of the animals can’t see. Let’s take bigger numbers now, at 7500 feet the water is nearly below freezing point.
PRESSURE INCREASES WITH DEPTH – HOW DEEP IS THE OCEAN ?
According to the reports, Cuvier’s beaked whale was the last mammal that was found at 9816 feet. But this distance is way smaller if we talk about the RMS Titanic which rests at an astounding depth of 12,500 feet, where the pressure is now 378 times greater than at the surface. Still, you can find some amazing marine life like Fangtooth hagfish and Dumbo octopus.
Read previous blog – PEOPLE DON’T TALK TO EACH OTHER ANYMORE
DEEPEST RECORDED POINT – HOW DEEP IS THE OCEAN ?
The deepest point in the ocean is Mariana Trench which is recorded at a depth of 36,070 feet. No humans have managed to make it so far except the two deepest crewed missions in history. In 2012 Hollywood film director James Cameron individually descended to 35,756 feet for the deep-sea Challenger mission but he didn’t manage to break the record which was set in 1960 by oceanographer Jacques Piccard and Lieutenant Don who submerged to the lowest point on earth i.e. challenger deep at a record of 35,797 feet below the surface.
Since then scientists have been sending lots of automated submersibles to explore the challenger deep and have reportedly collected more than 350 different species between 1995 and 2003. Many scientists claim that there are potentially thousands of marine species we have yet to discover.
We humans have just discovered five to ten percent of Earth’s oceans. We’ve only just begun to know the deep dark world that flows beneath us.
WhatsApp