Underwater mountain twice height of Burj Khalifa discovered off coast of Guatemala

ForestOrca, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago)

This is approximately 800 baby giraffes in height. And about 1/135th the area of Lake Okeechobee in the peninsular state of Florida. So people will have common useful size references. :-) FWIW, I've never been to Burj Khalifa.

Edit: The sea mount has the same area, 14 square km, as Laguna de Ayarza.

livus, 5 months ago

@ForestOrca the giraffes is a useful metric, thanks!

But given which magazine this is, Burj Khalifa is still more appropriate than your other thing. :)

ForestOrca, 5 months ago

Excellent point!! I'll edit. TY!

livus, 5 months ago

@ForestOrca omg Laguna de Ayarza is the perfect comparison!!

(I love your username by the way).

ForestOrca, 5 months ago

TY! That was a fortuitous find, to be sure.

livus, 5 months ago

From the article:

Experts from the Schmidt Ocean Institute discovered the seamount, which covers 14 square km, using a multi-beam echosounder on the Falkor (too) research vessel...

The seafloor feature was discovered 84 nautical miles outside the Guatemalan Exclusive Economic Zone during a six-day crossing this summer from Puntarenas, Costa Rica, towards the East Pacific Rise.

The Schmidt Ocean Institute on-board crew included a GEBCO-trained hydrographic expert, who confirmed that the seamount is not in any seafloor bathymetric database.

It was the ninth seafloor discovery since the research vessel Falkor (2), was launched in March.

Discoveries have included two additional uncharted seamounts in the Galápagos Islands Marine Reserve, three new hydrothermal vent fields, a new ecosystem underneath hydrothermal vents, and two pristine cold-water coral reefs.

Seamounts are biodiversity hotspots, providing surfaces for deep-sea corals, sponges, and a host of invertebrates...