Richmond, TX
Earth is made out of rocks; but did you know that it’s mainly made out of water? The Earth is made of 71% water, and 29% rock. It’s crazy to think so much of our planet is made up of water, which leads to questions. How much of our waters are still unexplored? What else is out there? What phenomena occurs in the water? Let’s discuss some of the crazy phenomena of the waters.
Let’s start with discussing an interesting but dangerous water phenomena called Maelstrom. Maelstrom is a powerful whirlpool in a sea or river. Maelstroms’ are known as the oceanic version of a black hole. Saltstraumen is the world’s strongest maelstrom, located in Bodø, Norway. A maelstrom is created by the interaction between currents. You may be wondering if a maelstrom is similar to a whirlpool, and the answer is yes! There isn't a large difference between a Maelstrom and whirlpool, besides the fact that a Maelstrom is bigger and usually occurs in the ocean.
Another interesting phenomena is a fog tsunami. A fog tsunami occurs when condensation from warm air merges with cool sea water. A fog tsunami, which occurred in San Diego on December 2021, stretched for miles along the coastline. As intimidating as it seems, in the end it’s just fog.
The final water phenomena we’ll discuss is Bioluminescence. That’s right, I’m talking about the sea of stars. Bioluminescence is actually a light produced by a tiny marine plankton called dinoflagellates. Did you know that bioluminescence light up as a defense mechanism? Physical disturbances like waves, or boats can disturb the plankton causing them to light up. This type of bioluminescence is most commonly found at nighttime in warm lagoons or bays.
Needless to say, the water holds unpredictable, mystifying, and wondrous things. Can it be terrifying? Yes, but there is also much beauty in them. Thank you for reading!