Earth and Mars, which also orbits the sun, can push and pull against each other. (Public domain)
[The Epoch Times, March 13, 2024](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Li Yan) The latest research shows that Mars is about 140 million miles away from the Earth, but the red planet is responsible for the “huge whirlpool” in the Earth’s deep oceans. The mastermind.
Scientists analyzed sediments drilled from hundreds of deep-sea sites over the past half century, looking back through Earth’s distant past to better understand the strength of deep-ocean currents. The results surprised them.
According to a study published Tuesday (March 12) in the journal Nature CommunicationsThis researchthe sediments reveal how deep ocean currents weaken and strengthen over a 2.4 million-year climate cycle.
Study co-author Adriana Dutkiewicz, a sedimentologist at the University of Sydney, said scientists did not expect to find these cycles, and there was only one way to explain them.
“They are related to the interaction cycles of Mars and Earth as they orbit the sun,” she said in a statement. This is the first study to establish these connections, the authors said.
The two planets interact through a phenomenon known as “resonance,” in which the two orbiting bodies push and pull each other through gravity, which changes the shape of their orbits and affects their distance from the sun.
For Earth, this interaction with Mars translates into periods of increased solar energy, meaning a warmer climate, the report found. And these warming cycles are associated with more active ocean currents.
Such currents, which the authors call “giant eddies,” can reach the bottom of the deep ocean, eroding the seafloor and causing massive sediment accumulations that resemble snowdrifts.
Scientists mapped the distribution of these strong eddies by analyzing “breakpoints” in sediment cores. Deep-sea sediments form continuous layers under calm conditions, but strong ocean currents can disrupt this layer, leaving a telltale imprint.
Joel Hirschi, deputy director of ocean system modeling at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, was not involved in the study. He said the study’s discovery of a 2.4-million-year cycle in ocean sediments was noteworthy. He added that this approach was sound and that contact with Mars was possible.
However, he told CNN, “The proposed link to ocean circulation is speculative, and there is little evidence that deep-sea circulation and eddies are stronger in warmer climates.”
Satellite observations show that these eddies have become more active over the past few decades, but the currents don’t always reach the seafloor, meaning they can’t affect sediment accumulation, he said.
Editor in charge: Lin Yan#
