A series of giant ‘black holes’ have been found at sea by pioneering university researchers in the USA and Switzerland. So has the riddle of the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ finally been unravelled? Not quite, but early signs show that these mysterious aquatic vessels could be used to transport possible future oil spills and limit the impact on the melting ice caps.
Research professors from ETH Zurich and the University of Miami have identified several such ‘black holes’ in the southern Atlantic Ocean. What’s more - their findings conclude that the discovered eddies are the mathematical equivalent of their intergalactic counterparts.
We now know that the mild winters that we enjoy in Northern Europe are due to the Atlantic Gulf Stream. However, the climate is also determined by these huge eddies - that can be as large as 150 km across - that rotate and drift across the ocean. The university teams have discovered that the number of eddies is on the rise, increasing the northbound volume of warm sea water. It is thought that this action could stem the negative impact of melting sea ice at the Arctic.
These aquatic black holes can only be located by satellite imaging due to their scale. They can be pinpointed by looking for rotating and drifting masses of water – called Agulhas Rings. They are stable and function in the same manner as a transportation vehicle. They could hold foreign bodies, organisms or oil in their grip without yielding them to the outer body of sea. Even temperature or salinity levels could differ from the surrounding water. ‘Passengers’ could travel around in closed loops with no way out indeterminably. The researchers have identified seven Agulhas Rings that have transported the same body of water for over a year without a single leak. Nothing escapes from the inside of these water orbits.
Inset: What are ‘black holes’?
Black holes are traditionally objects in space with a mass so great that they pull everything that comes close to them, deep down inside. Nothing can escape, not even light particles.