Humans have done a pretty good job of exploring
the Earth thus far, climbing mountains and crossing continents and planting our flags
all over the place in the name of science. But one part of the world that has remained pretty
mysterious to us also happens to cover more than 70% of its surface: the ocean. Yes , we’ve sailed across it plenty of times.
And drilled for oil in it. And managed to create reality shows about fishing in it. But, from glowing oceans to massive deep-sea
creatures, and underwater ecosystems with thousands of undiscovered, basically-alien
species -- we still have a lot to learn about it. Probably more than any place on Earth, the
ocean is full of fascinating stuff that we just don’t know. Not yet. [Music Playing] Number One: What’s the ocean floor like? Fact is, we still don’t know exactly what
the ocean floor looks like in most places. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
says that 95% of the ocean's bottom remains unseen by humans. As a result, we have a way better picture of the surfaces of other planets than we do of most of the seafloor. In 2014, a team of scientists created a map
of the seafloor using data from satellites equipped with special sensors called radar
altimeters. These instruments could precisely measure the distance from the satellite to the surface of the ocean below. Essentially, any large mountains or canyons
on the ocean floor have a slight gravitational effect on the ocean surface, creating bumps and dips, respectively. These variations are of course too subtle to be detected by human eyes, but they can be measured by these ultra-precise satellite altimeters
-- and, after adjusting for the effect of waves and tides, tell scientists what’s
on the seafloor. This map spans the entire ocean floor, which is awesome, and we’re all glad that it exists, but it only has a resolution of about 5 kilometers, which is pretty low. By comparison, most of the surface of Mars, Venus, and the Moon have been mapped to resolutions of 100 meters or less. So, if we want to know what’s going on down there and really explore the ocean, detecting life, specific mineral formations, or wrecks, we’re gonna need a better map. Number Two: What’s under the seafloor? OK, probably thinking that you know what’s
down there: rock. Yes. But not just rock. In 2015, scientists reported that they had
drilled down about 2 and a half kilometers below the seafloor off the coast of Japan,
and discovered living microbes. There were only about 10 to 10,000 microorganisms
in a cubic centimeter of sediment that they studied, compared to like billions that you’d
find in the same amount of dirt from your garden. But still: There's life down there, even
in the intense heat and pressure many kilometers below where the ocean stops. And the genomes of these under-sea microbes
showed that they were actually more similar to the kind you’d find in forest soil, rather
than the ones in seafloor sediments. So it’s possible that these microbes are
descendants of terrestrial ones from 20 million years ago, that just adapted when their habitat
began to get buried way beneath the ocean. So, who knows what other kinds of life could
exist in deep marine sediments, or what they could tell us about what life on Earth used to be like? Number Three: Brine pools. We’ve all seen lakes and rivers on land,
but what about lakes that are … underwater? Sounds a little bit unreal, like maybe it’s from a Sponge Bob episode but these features actually exist -- pockets of seawater that have a different
composition than the surrounding ocean: because they’re super salty. They’re known as brine pools, and they seem
to have formed when layers of salt from evaporated oceans millions of years ago got buried under
layers of sediment. Seawater can reach these deposits and mix
with the salt, forming a dense brine that flows out of the seafloor, sometimes filled
with oils or methane gas. Some brine pools, like those found deep in
the Gulf of Mexico, are four times as salty as the ocean water around it. And the brine is so dense that submersibles
can even “float” on top of it, like a boat on a lake. All of this salt makes brine pools lethal
to larger animals. But colonies of halophilic -- or salt-loving
-- microorganisms can flourish there, usually in much higher concentrations than the nearby
normal seawater. Some pools are even lined with mussels that
have symbiotic bacteria in their gills, which use the methane in the brine to make energy
for the mussels. But there’s a ton that we don’t know about
these weird underwater salt lakes -- like how brine pools can be so different from each
other -- and why some have mussels and others don’t -- and even how many there are! Number Four: Milky seas. Also known as mareel, this is a
phenomenon in which thousands of square kilometers of the ocean’s surface glow a brilliant
whitish-blue. It lasts for such a short time, and there
have been so few recorded sightings, that these glowing seas were thought to be a myth
made up by crazy sailors… … until 2005 -- when a group of researchers
was studying satellite pictures of a swath of the Indian Ocean from 1995. These pictures showed an area of about 15,000 kilometers-square, around the size of Connecticut, glowing for 3 nights. It was the first scientific evidence of the
phenomenon, but the glowing waters are still not very well understood. Some have suggested that the glow is caused by a mass of tiny dinoflagellates called Noctiluca scintillans known as “sea sparkles” for the way they glow when disturbed. These protists are what cause the picturesque
glittering waves along coastlines in some parts of the world. But the 2005 study found that it was “unlikely,
if not impossible” that the short-lived glowing of dinoflagellates was what scientists had been seeing from space. The prevailing theory these days is that milky
seas are caused by massive colonies of bioluminescent bacteria that are growing on top of an algal
bloom. But we’re still not sure how or why these
ephemeral masses of bacteria gather, glow, and disappear. Number Five: The 52 hertz whale. You’d think we would know a lot about whales. I mean, they’re big, and we have their skeletons,
and we can observe their migratory patterns. But one thing we still have a lot more to learn about is their songs -- from why some whales make them, to how an animal without vocal
cords … or lips … manages to make song-like sounds. And then there’s this question -- what whale
is producing the 52 hertz song, and why? This whale song was first noted by a technician
on December 7th, 1992 in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. It sounded like a blue whale, but blue whale
cries usually are somewhere between 15 and 20 hertz in pitch. So, blue whales in the Pacific typically sound
like this: [Blue Whale Cry Playing] But this whale song, played at the same speed,
sounded like this: [52 Hertz Song Playing] This high-pitch noise seemed to be unique
to one animal -- a whale that became known as 52 Blue. This raises a lot of questions, and we have
to know more about whales to be able to answer some of them, like, why does this one whale sound different? And can others even hear it? And if they can hear it, do they understand? Some people latched onto to the idea that
52 Blue is a lonely whale crying out to others that might not hear it or wouldn’t call
back. But several scientists have rejected this
lonely narrative, and think that other whales may be able to understand its call, even if
they can’t make that call themselves. Also, 52 blue seems to migrate independently
from any other whales. But its migratory patterns do look kind
of like those of blue whales -- scientists have been tracking it up and down the North
Pacific from Alaska to Mexico for years now. So some researchers think it might have some
malformation that has changed how it sings, or maybe it’s even a hybrid between a blue
whale and another species. Whether or not it’s a lonely whale, 52 Blue
is an oddity that people seem to love. Number Six: Upsweep. Now, ocean sounds are practically their own
field of study, NOAA has been monitoring acoustics in the ocean for decades now. Instead of microphones, which are used to
collect sound in air, NOAA uses hydrophones to record underwater sounds. Mostly, these hydrophones are used to listen
to the ambient sound of the ocean, to see how humans might interfere with it, and to listen for things like earthquakes and whale calls. And sometimes, they record things that are
hard to explain, at least for a while. In 1997, for example, there was what was known
as The Bloop, an extremely loud, low-frequency sound heard by hydrophones some 5,000 kilometers
apart. Oceanographers recently determined that it
was the result of an icequake -- the cracking and collapse of glaciers into the ocean, in
this case on the coast of Antarctica. But there’s another mystery sound from the
ocean, known as Upsweep. Recorded in August 1991, it sounds like a
repeating “boop” that picks up at the end -- sweeping up -- kind of like the “red
alert” sound effect you hear on spaceships in sci-fi movies. But instead of trying to describe it, I could just play it for you. [Boop Playing] Since 1991, this sound has been heard regularly
in the Pacific Ocean, and it seems to be seasonal, usually becoming more common in spring and
fall. Researchers have tracked the sound to a part
of the Pacific that has lots of volcanic and seismic activity, which seem to be important
clues. But according to NOAA, “the origin of the
sound is unresolved.” Number Seven: Why are deep-sea creatures so
huge? From the Kraken to sea dragons, all of our
favorite mythical sea monsters are gigantic. And the fact is, in real life, many deep-sea
creatures are unusually huge. This phenomenon is called deep-sea gigantism. But what drives it is … you guessed it!
… unknown! In the deep sea, and especially near the polar
oceans, some animals seem to get really huge -- like colossal squids, giant isopods, and
Japanese spider crabs. Scientists aren’t sure why, but they do have some guesses. There’s Bergmann’s Rule, for example,
which suggests that temperature may influence gigantism. This might be because larger animals have
less surface area relative to volume, so they radiate less heat based on their mass and
stay warmer in colder climates. And then there’s Klieber’s Law,
which states that more massive animals generally have lower metabolic rates -- and therefore
need less high-quality food --- to survive. Still other theories suggest that gigantism
may help organisms resist increased pressure of the deep sea. But we don’t really have conclusive biological
reasons why these giant creatures exist. So, the ocean is just full o’ mysteries,
maybe because it’s so huge and dark and deep. But just so you know that we’re not hyping
you -- we’re not saying that these 7 topics are things that Science Can’t Explain. Instead, you should just think of them as reminders of how much we still have to learn about the ocean. As our technology improves, and our access
to the ocean takes us to new depths, we’ll be able to see and hear and sample more stuff than we ever have before. So in time, these puzzles will be solved,
and new creatures will be discovered, and our understanding of our planet, and the life
on it, will be that much … deeper. Thank you for watching this SciShow List Show, and thanks especially to all of our patrons on Patreon who make this show possible. If you want to help us keep making shows like this, you can go to patreon.com/scishow. And
don’t forget to go to youtube.com/scishow and subscribe!
Oh man! The 52 blue whale is scary!
His 4th button......
Why aren't deep sea creatures huge because they aren't affected by gravity like land based animals are?
I always thought the reason why there's a limit to how huge animals can be on land is because after a certain size, the bones and muscles can't hold the organism up against gravity.
And in the ocean, you aren't affected by gravity in the same way. Since you're buoyant and floating around the ocean. (which is why astronauts go into pools to simulate zero-gravity space)
#8 blew my mind!!