While mapping the seafloor in the Pacific ’s depths , research worker stumble across a never - before - encounter underwater mount doubly as high as the Burj Khalifa , the public ’s tallest construction .
The colossal seamount was light upon using a multibeam echosounder onboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute ’s geographic expedition and inquiry vesselFalkor ( too ) during a late junket off the seacoast of Guatemala towards the East Pacific Rise .
consist some 2,400 m ( 7,874 feet ) below ocean tier , the seamount stands over 1,600 meter ( 5,249 feet ) richly – that ’s over three Empire State Buildings – and covers an area of 14 hearty kilometers ( 5.4 substantial mi ) .
Bathymetry of the newly discovered seamount.Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
The breakthrough of an strange seamount is exciting word for a bunch of reasons . In the wide open sea , they serve ashotspots for biodiversity , providing aerofoil for bass - ocean coral , sponges , fish , cephalopods , and crustacean .
It also goes to show how picayune of the sea we have search .
“ On every expedition , those aboardFalkor ( too)have found the unexpected , the awe - inspiring , the fresh . While there is so much we ’ve come to realize as discoveries break down ever quicker into view , so much remains unidentified in our Ocean – and we are thrilled to keep exploring , ” Wendy Schmidt , co - founder and president of Schmidt Ocean Institute , allege in a financial statement seen by IFLScience .
Falkor (too), the research ship used in this latest discovery, pictured in the Pacific.Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
“ A seamount over 1.5 kilometers [ 0.9 miles ] magniloquent which has , until now , been hide under the waves really highlights how much we have yet to discover , ” append Dr Jyotika Virmani , executive conductor of Schmidt Ocean Institute .
Since 2013 , Schmidt Ocean Institute has map 1.44 million straight kilometre ( around 500,000 square miles ) of seafloor , create a map of almost 25 percent of the seafloor at a 100 - metre ( 328 feet ) or higher resolution . By the end of this decennary , they trust to have map the sum of the seafloor , all 360 million straightforward kilometers ( 139 million straightforward miles ) of it .
As this journey progresses , it ’s certain researchers will come across an copiousness of other immense seamount . late orbiter - found estimatessuggestthere are more than 100,000 unexplored seamounts taller than 1,000 meter ( 3,280 foundation ) , each of which could be harboring an untold amount of biodiversity .
Some of these deep mountains could be absolute behemoth . Technically , the high mountain on Earthis a submerged seamount : Hawai’i ’s Mauna Kea , a dormant volcano that is more than 10,210 meters ( 33,500 feet ) tall , measured from its understructure on the seafloor 5,486 meter ( 18,000 foot ) beneath the water ’s control surface . By comparison , Mount Everest is comparatively runty at 8,848 meters ( 29,029 feet ) improbable .
