A team of oceanographers has discovered a massive underwater mountain off the coast of Chile that is taller than Greece's iconic Mount Olympus and is home to a host of rare marine life.
Researchers from the Schmidt Ocean Institution in California have photographed a never-before-seen seamount that stretches 1.9 miles from the Pacific Ocean floor toward the surface and features a rich ecosystem. According to the organization.
The unnamed peak, located about 900 miles from South America, was discovered by a 28-day expedition. R/V Falcor The vessel used an under-hull sonar system to map parts of the ocean floor.
“The sound waves travel down, bounce off the surface and we measure the time it takes for them to come back and be measured, and that gives us very good information about the ocean floor,” says Jyothika Virmani, the institute's executive director. He told CNN.
Virmani noted that despite covering 71 percent of the Earth's surface, only about a quarter of the ocean floor has been mapped to date.
The newly mapped underwater mountain is 100 meters tall from base to peak. Mount Olympus9,570 feet above sea level. Mount FujiThe mountain has an elevation of 12,388 feet.
That's nearly four times the height of the world's tallest building, Dubai's Burg Khalifa, which stands at 2,723 feet.
Scientists believe there are at least 100,000 seamounts around the world that are more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) tall and provide unique and important habitats for certain marine life.
Recently discovered off the coast of Chile, the mountain is teeming with sponge gardens and ancient corals.
Oceanographers used an underwater robot to capture footage of a rare mountain-dwelling Promacoteutis squid, the first time the creature has been seen alive.
They also encountered a ghostly white “Casper octopus,” the first time the eight-legged creature had been spotted in the South Pacific. The octopus has never been caught, Virmani explained, so it doesn't yet have an official scientific name.
Two extremely rare Bathyphysa siphonophora, also known as the flying spaghetti monster due to its string-like appearance, were also spotted.
The latest discovery was made during the R/V Falkor's third voyage to the Nasca Ridge, which CNN reports could become the world's first protected area in deep international waters under a new UN treaty to be adopted in 2023.
“Over the three expeditions, we were able to map and survey 25 seamounts, which is a significant number to survey,” she said. “I think we, as a community, now have some good data that we can put forward to support our argument that this is a very interesting area that should be protected.”
During three expeditions in January and February, as well as the most recent expedition, the team discovered more than 170 previously unknown plant and animal species, researchers told CNN.
Prior to this year's survey by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, 1,019 species were known to inhabit this part of the Pacific Ocean; now, that number is more than 1,300.
Details of the new species Ocean Surveyis a bold international effort to document previously undiscovered species in the ocean, with the goal of identifying 100,000 previously unknown species within the next decade.
