From the surface, Chetumal Bay looks almost placid – just a wide sheet of water with no hint of drama underneath. But below that calm is Taam ja’, a massive underwater sinkhole, or “blue hole,” that’s turned into an unexpected mystery for scientists.
At first, the plan seemed straightforward: map it with sonar, get a depth, move on. Instead, the early readings created a bigger problem – what if Taam ja’ isn’t anywhere near as shallow as those first numbers suggested?
The most recent measurements point to a hole that drops far deeper than expected, and the true bottom may still be out of reach...
47 Comments
ThanksObama@sh.itjust.works · 86 pts · 201d
Send some billionaires in a fancy sub! They have a great track record in the deep.
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 26 pts · 201d
It's still astounding that really happened and wasn't just the plot of a "Down Periscope" type movie.
CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 200d
If only they’d have gotten advice from [REDACTED], the director of Titanic.
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 6 pts · 200d
Haha.
If only they'd done a 30 second search on why this is a bad idea... Or the lack of testing.
CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 200d
The thing is they DID test it! And they even had a working failure detection mechanism with the microphones. They had seen the signs of failure from previous dives. And then just ignored all of that.
Archer@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 200d
The CEO also left the sub exposed to the Canadian winter and freeze/thaw cycles because he was too cheap to pay for climate controlled storage
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 4 pts · 200d
Wow.
Guess their definition of test and mine are different. I'd want a whole slew of testing regimen, including test to failure over a long time - essentially years of running it unmanned.
village604@adultswim.fan · 5 pts · 200d
You can definitely thoroughly test something then ignore the results.
CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 200d
I don’t think it would’ve mattered because they had all the evidence they needed and just ignored it regardless.
QueenHawlSera@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 195d
I feel bad for the kid who wanted to back out at the last second, and didn't simply because he was worried he'd disappoint his father
bdonvr@thelemmy.club · 11 pts · 200d
Send them all, in one big one.
D_C@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 200d
Ok, but only if it's not as big if it comes back up.
Lodespawn@aussie.zone · 54 pts · 201d
I assume a guy named Dave is running a sushi shop nearby with some pals?
Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 200d
And one of those pals is the coolest dude ever?
ravenaspiring@sh.itjust.works · 46 pts · 200d
So the line they brought for the CTD was only 500m, and they only made it to 423 before the reading didn't line up with the wire out.
So it's deep, but sometimes you can't bring the CTD & winch you want, you bring the one you can get.
They'll figure it out sooner than later, but for anyone who works with these thing it's clickbait title.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone gets funding or a billionaire to want to film this hole so they'll stick an ROV in it and make a documentary about it. That would probably be more reliable than a standalone CTD or rosette.
ameancow@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 200d
Archer@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 200d
Cash me outside girl, Hawk Tuah girl, and a Kardashian
Twinklebreeze@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 201d
Avatar Rule 34 be like.
Dadifer@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 201d
Accepted
Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 200d
That's a search that seems like it could backfire horribly.
EtnaAtsume@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 200d
Was gonna make a similar joke but with Smurfette.
socsa@piefed.social · 23 pts · 200d
Scientists discover OP's mom.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 200d
I clicked on this thing ONLY for the yo-momma joke. Thanks for being there and doing the needful ... which also was OP's mom.
amateurcrastinator@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 200d
I think they are wondering how deep it is not how thick
IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 199d
came into the comments to make sure someone says that.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 201d
Whatever might be down there isn't expected to be valuable enough to risk limb and dollar to reach.
FTFY
SharkAttak@kbin.melroy.org · 4 pts · 200d
It'd probably be less expensive than something stupid like sending a Tesla to orbit.
village604@adultswim.fan · 4 pts · 200d
Didn't they basically just use it as a payload for a test flight, though?
If you're already launching garbage into orbit, you might as well use your specific garbage for marketing.
murmelade@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 200d
Just a beer bottle probably.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 201d
Relevant username.
someguy3@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 200d
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 11 pts · 201d
We should know about how deep it is if we know the dimensions of the Earth's core. There has to be a good amount of rock between that and the bottom of this trench.
We may not be able to send a human (or other biological being) down there, but we can certainly run a pipe down there. The question is, can we get lights and a camera that can withstand the pressure and show us what's down there? I wanna say yes, we have solid state lighting that would not be subject to pressure, same for recording materials, but I'm not 100% sure. I would say for a camera you need space between the lens and the glass, and the lens and the image sensor, but I'm not sure you can't just use glass instead of air, if it's clear enough.
I am almost certain it can be reached, but I'm almost certain a human can't go there.
degenerate_neutron_matter@fedia.io · 29 pts · 201d
justsomeguy@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 201d
We should assemble a team of billionaires and send them down there in a plastic submarine. For...science.
homes@piefed.world · 5 pts · 201d
If they get the writer of this article to help write their grant proposal, they may just get the money.
teft@piefed.social · 14 pts · 201d
They only got to 1300 feet which is well above crushing depth for remotely operated vehicles and cameras. Challenger deep is 35,000 feet and 27 people have been down there.
I would assume the bigger problems will be visibility (cave systems tend to have murky water and it sounds like the bay also has murky water) and being able to maneuver an rov or submersible in the passages. Some caves are so narrow that cave divers have to take off their gear and squeeze themselves through a passage so getting an rov in would be impossible.
d15d@feddit.org · 6 pts · 200d
Caves, especially sink holes and cenotes in mexico actually tend to have pretty clear water. The murkyness in water comes either from organic matter or silt. If there's no light there is no algae to limit visibility. If the cave has flow the silt is often carried away quickly. If there is no flow the silt will sink to the bottom, clearing up the visibility. Once the silt is disturbed (e.g. by a diver kicking their fin in the wrong direction) it can take a long time to settle again.
MetalSlugX@piefed.social · 3 pts · 200d
Not to immediately gainsay what you're talking about but I think visible light isn't necessary for "vision". Think radar, etc
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 201d
Right, I just mean the pole would be able to poke the bottom of whatever hole. As far as exploring, yeah, I mean of course a cave system beats a straight pole lowered from the surface.
I'm thinking some kind of automated submersible, like a drone but in the water.
The murky water is something I don't have an answer for. Then you're just falling back on sonar.
I don't think they'll find Godzilla down there, or any kind of "monster" or anything that would wow the average doom scroller. But we might find new life down there, something that is suited to the higher pressure. And that could be interesting. Though, just like we'd die down there, it would likely die "up here".
ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 198d
Oh of course not, she's much too big and is native to the seas of Japan, and now resides on Monster Island after retaking it from the humans and unifying all the Kaiju there.
RumorsOfLove@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 200d
anchor
melfie@lemy.lol · 7 pts · 200d
mmmac@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 200d
You joke but the Mayans used a lot of these cenotés as places to sacrifice people, so you're probably right lol
Tetragrade@leminal.space · 7 pts · 200d
Yeah I reckon I could figure out how deep it is but I'm kind of busy right now with other stuff.
ameancow@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 200d
fox2263@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 200d
Sounds like they need to try harder.
RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 200d
Why do so many of the exact same posts, not cross-posts, show up twice on my feed?
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 200d
It's a known bug that lemmy/fed may need to address. I regularly see 7-10 copies of the same post, not linked, not deduped.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 200d
Papa Smurf's butthole?
dissentiate@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 200d
fleem@piefed.zeromedia.vip · 2 pts · 201d
Interesting read!
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 200d
Btw, there's no standing wave sonar, to avoid bouncing off on the side? Since you can't really "laser" sound waves.