KOMPAS.com – Scientists discovered four new seamounts during a transit from Costa Rica to Valparaiso, Chile aboard a ship from the Schmidt Ocean Institute in January 2024.
Each has a height of 1,591 meters, 1,644 meters, 1,873 meters, and the highest is found off the coast of Chile with a height of 2,681 meters above the sea floor or about 3 times the height of the Burj Khalifa.
The Burj Khalifa itself, the tallest building in the world, reaches a height of 828 meters.
Ocean technicians and hydrographers from the Schmidt Ocean Institute confirmed that the mountains had not previously been included in any database, as reported on the Schmidt Ocean Institute website.
This finding adds to the list of underwater mountains more than 1,600 meters high that were discovered off the coast of Guatemala, Central America in November 2023.
Also read: Seconds of Undersea Volcano Eruption Creates New Island in Japan
Chronology of underwater mountain discoveries
One of the researchers, John Fulmer, said they discovered the four underwater mountains when technicians were planning a route to check for gravitational anomalies during the transit from Costa Rica to Chile in January 2024.
“We were fortunate enough to be able to plan a mapping route using gravity anomalies in satellite altimetry data,” they said, still from the same source.
According to him, checking for gravitational anomalies is the best way to look for bulges on the map. And when they find it, they will find huge underwater mountains.
Changes in the shape of the sea floor appear as very small shifts in the surface of the Ocean where deep trenches will cause slight depressions (low pressure areas) and mountains can create almost invisible bulges above the Ocean.
These subtle clues can help experts make discoveries and create better, more detailed maps of the sea floor.
Whenever sea conditions permit, the crew will collect mapping data as the research vessel moves or transits from one location to another.
Since 2012, scientists on the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel, Falkor, have mapped about 1.5 million square kilometers and discovered 29 seamounts, hills and trenches.
Also read: Undersea Mountain Found in South Pacitan, Is it Dangerous?
The impact of the discovery of a seamount
During this time, scientists from Schmidt Ocean used the research vessel Falkor to map around 1.5 million square kilometers of ocean floor. They will transit anywhere conditions permit.
At that time, the Falkor crew used multibeam sonar and satellite data to map the seabed.
“Maps are a very important tool for understanding our planet. And finding seamounts almost always leads us to unknown biodiversity hotspots,” said Dr. Jyotika Virmani, executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, still from the same source.
Reporting from Times Now News, this finding is important because seamounts often harbor coral reefs, sponges, anemones and other living organisms.
The mountains provide food, shelter, and a surface that provides habitat for other plants.
Each discovery reveals new points of marine biodiversity that still need to be studied a lot.
The more mapping that is done, the more extraordinary new species are discovered.
However, the absence of detailed underwater topography or bathymetry data hampers the ability to sustainably manage marine resources, navigate ships safely at sea, and protect coastal communities.
Also read: Undersea Mountain Found in South Pacitan, Height 2,200 Meters
It is an extinct volcano
Reporting from Space, these giant underwater mountain peaks are extinct volcanoes.
These ancient mountains are so large that they create subtle changes in sea level height and/or what are called gravitational anomalies.
This gravitational anomaly can be detected by satellites. In this case, the sea surface protrudes directly above the volcano’s peak.
In 2023, the same research team discovered another underwater mountain that was about twice as tall as the Burj Khalifa.
But apparently, there are several underwater mountains that are bigger.
The largest seamount in the world is technically the dormant volcano Mauna Kea in Hawaii, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
It is about 4,205 meters above sea level, but extends down to the sea floor, according to the US Geological Survey. The actual height of the mountain is 10,211 meters.
Scientists estimate that there are 100,000 underwater volcanoes spread throughout the world’s oceans, as stated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
However, only a small part has been mapped. More than half of the predicted peaks are in the Pacific Ocean.
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2024-03-04 11:30:00
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