Oceanographers led by the Schmidt Institute in California discovered and mapped an underwater mountain as tall as four of the world’s tallest buildings stacked on top of each other.
Located in the Pacific Ocean 1,448 km off the coast of Chile, the 3,109 m high mountain is part of an underwater mountain range that features sponge gardens, ancient corals and rare marine life, including a species of squid filmed for the first time. CNN The team, led by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, explored the area on the research vessel R/V Falkor during a 28-day expedition that ended this month. They mapped the mountain using sonar under the ship’s hull.
“The sound waves travel down and bounce back to the surface, and we measure the time it takes for the sound waves to return. From that, we can visualize the topography of the seafloor,” said Jyotika Virmani, the institute’s executive director. “The data is important because currently, only about 26% of the seafloor has been mapped at this resolution. The seafloor covers 71% of the planet’s surface.”
Oceanographers estimate that there are at least 100,000 seamounts taller than 1,000 meters around the world. They provide important habitats for many species. The newly mapped underwater mountain is larger than Mount Olympus in Greece (2,917 meters), shorter than Mount Fuji in Japan (3,776 meters), and nearly four times taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (830 meters). Using an underwater robot, the team explored one of the ridges, looking for areas rich in marine biodiversity.
They filmed a ghost-like white Casper octopus, marking the first time the deep-sea cephalopod has been seen in the South Pacific. The new discovery is the highlight of the research vessel’s third expedition to the Nazca Ridge region in international waters. Two previous expeditions in January and February led to the classification of 150 unknown species. Details of the new discoveries will be shared with the Ocean Census project, an international collaboration that aims to identify 100,000 unknown species over the next 10 years, allowing scientists to better understand and protect deep-sea ecosystems.