7 myths about the Bermuda Triangle, in which many somehow believe

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Reality, as usual, is much more boring than what we are fed with pseudo-scientific programs.

The Bermuda Triangle is an area in the Atlantic Ocean, and more specifically in the Sargasso Sea. It is located between Bermuda, Miami and Puerto Rico. There supposedly planes and ships are constantly disappearing, and without a trace. They started talking about the triangle after 5 American bombers on a training flight disappeared on December 5, 1945.

Supporters of alternative science find many explanations for the phenomenon of varying degrees of savagery: from unique catastrophic weather phenomena that supposedly cannot be found in other parts of the ocean, to UFOs and portals to other worlds. The triangle has become a real legend, and it is surrounded by many myths. Here are the most common ones.

Myth 1. More ships are missing in the Bermuda Triangle than anywhere else

Thanks to its popularity in the media, the Bermuda Triangle is known as the most damned and dangerous place in the ocean. Nevertheless, real statistics show that the Sargasso Sea is not so terrible. Or rather, not scary at all.

According to a 2013 report by the World Wildlife Fund, most shipwrecks in the world occur in the South China, Mediterranean and North Seas. In addition, ships often go missing in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Panama Canal, the Black Sea and the vicinity of the British Isles.

The reason is very simple: traffic is higher there. The Sargasso Sea did not make it into the rating at all.

Researcher Larry Kusche, in his book The Bermuda Triangle: Myths and Reality, has detailed most of the “unexplained” disappearances. After numerous calculations, he found that the number of shipwrecks occurring in the triangle is no more than at any other point in the ocean with similar traffic.

In addition, since the 1990s, the number of ships missing in the region has dropped significantly thanks to the development of radio communications and satellite navigation.

Myth 2. Hazardous underwater gas emissions regularly occur in the region

There is an assumption that ships and planes in the Bermuda Triangle disappeared due to natural phenomena associated with the sudden release of underwater gas to the surface. The main culprit of the disappearances that occurred was methane hydrates, but there were also options with carbon dioxide or ammonia.

Hypothetically, the mechanism is approximately as follows. A large bubble of methane erupts from under the continental shelf at the bottom of the sea under a ship that peacefully sails about its business. This gas has a much lower density than water. The bubble rises, the average density of the water under the vessel falls, it loses its ability to maintain buoyancy and goes to the bottom.

Such a bubble can also cause a plane crash. If the air in which the aircraft is flying is oversaturated with methane, the wing's lift will decrease and the aircraft may fall. In addition, the amount of oxidant that the engine receives from the atmosphere will decrease - aviation fuel will simply stop burning.

The theory is very plausible, but it has a flaw. According to data 1.

2. The US Geological Survey, in the Blake Ridge area off the southeastern coast of the United States, no methane deposits have been found. Geologists say that over the past 15,000 years, no gas emissions could have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle.

Myth 3. Waves of the Bermuda Triangle generate dangerous infrasound

Another theory that was supposed to explain the "mystery" of the Bermuda Triangle is infrasonic. In nature, there is such a phenomenon as microbaromas, or "the voice of the sea."This is when, due to the effect of strong wind on the tops of ocean waves, the latter emit a powerful low-frequency sound. It is a completely natural and scientifically explained phenomenon that was studied by Soviet and American aerologists.

Some believe that it is the “voice of the sea” that is to blame for all the shipwrecks in the Bermuda Triangle.

Allegedly, the waves there create such a powerful infrasound that people stunned by it throw themselves overboard in panic.

But only in the Sargasso Sea, microbaromas occur with approximately the same frequency as in the rest of the ocean, that is, extremely rarely.

In addition, the subsonic pressure is 1.

2.

3., which threatens a person with such phenomena as visual impairment, headaches, dizziness, nausea and choking, is approximately 150 dB. For microbaroms, this figure reached a maximum of 75–85 dB - at a rock concert, you will get more infrasound.

The "voice of the sea" is not particularly pleasant: all sorts of sea creatures, for example jellyfish, having heard it, seek to escape from it deeper to the bottom. But this phenomenon is not fatal and is unlikely to cause someone to want to jump from the ship into the ocean.

Myth 4. In fact, ships are drowned by a giant squid

For a long time, huge squids or octopuses were a very popular explanation for the incidents in the Bermuda Triangle. For example, the legendary disappearance in 1918 of the American ship "Cyclops" (USS Cyclops) was attributed by some to the arms, more precisely, the tentacles of representatives of the marine megafauna.

However, in 2004, Japanese researchers obtained the first pictures of an adult giant squid, and since then oceanologists have studied this animal quite well. It turned out that the largest individuals reach sizes no more than 12-13 meters and weigh 275 kilograms. This is a lot, but not enough to sink even a small fishing vessel, not to mention the cooler ships.

In addition, squids are rather shy guys and do not try to kill or eat people.

So neither in the Bermuda Triangle, nor in other regions of the ocean, any kraken do not threaten ships.

Myth 5. There are powerful magnetic anomalies in the triangle

Some incident reports in the Bermuda Triangle mention compass problems. Therefore, the assumptions are periodically put forward that some magnetic anomalies can be found in this region. It is they, in theory, that cause malfunctions in the equipment of ships and aircraft, which leads to disasters.

There is even a legend that Bermuda is the only place where the compass indicates "true", not "magnetic" north.

In fact, such points do exist. For example, in Florida, the deviation from the True North is really zero. But in a triangle, it equals 1.

2. 15 °, which is known a long time ago, at least since the 19th century. And navigators are able to make a correction for the offset of the compass needle.

Observations by the US National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) have found no strangeness in the electromagnetic field in the Sargasso Sea. The devices behave quite predictably there.

Myth 6. For ships crossing the triangle, insurance is more expensive

Norman Hook investigated the shipwrecks between 1963 and 1996 in the triangle for Lloyd's Maritime Information Services. He found that disappearances in this region are more often associated with the weather than with krakens, UFOs and portals to other worlds.

Therefore, despite the legends, insurance premiums here are not higher than in any other part of the ocean.

Other regions of the Atlantic Ocean are much more dangerous for shipping. For example, the area opposite Cape Hatteras, which bears the self-explanatory name "Atlantic Cemetery", since more than 1,000 ships have been wrecked here. Or Sable Island off the coast of Canada - 350 shipwrecks.

Myth 7. Sailors and pilots avoid the Bermuda Triangle

On the contrary, the triangle is a very visited region - both maritime and air traffic are very dense there. You can easily check this statement yourself with the help of which displays the ships in the sea in real time. It doesn't look very much like a damn place that everyone floats by, does it?

Airplane pilots and ship crews simply ignore the dreaded Bermuda Triangle and cross 1.

2. its as usual. Yes, sailors really have to be careful here, because the Sargasso Sea has a complex bottom topography and powerful currents - the famous Gulf Stream. And the local capricious weather adds to the problems for the pilots. But not otherworldly forces or aliens.