WHY THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS REFUSES TO MERGE?

I'm sure you've seen it or caught a glimpse of some videos of ships sailing through a weird line of water in those images one side is dark blue and clear and the other side is greenish and salty looking some have claimed the footage shows the boundaries between oceans and that water defies all its own laws by not mixing well it turns out that's not exactly true our planet is over 70 percent covered by water and out of all of that H2O two of the biggest bodies are the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans these massive stretches of salty goodness are home to some of the world's most fascinating creatures from the tiniest Plankton to the largest whales while we may have given these oceans separate names they're constantly mixing and mingling with each other regardless of how we choose to draw our Maps is like a never-ending dance party with water currents doing the Cha-Cha between the Pacific and Atlantic so don't be fooled by those imaginary borders we've drawn on our Maps these oceans are always in motion and connected in more ways than we can imagine now the Pacific Ocean Takes the Cake for being the largest and deepest ocean on the planet it's actually deeper than the Grand Canyon meanwhile the Atlantic Ocean comes in second ah a red ribbon but sizes and everything right each of these oceans has its own unique set of characteristics for example did you know that the salinity of the Atlantic that's the salt content is higher than that of the Pacific or Indian oceans or that the Waters of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean are even saltier still it's because of the lower salinity Waters from the deep sea can't easily flow in and water evaporates faster than rainfall can replace it it's like the ocean has its own seasoning preferences hey who oh now let's talk about a little place called Cape Horn if you look at it on a map you'll have to scroll way down through South America it's also where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans come together to uh play here we can also find a powerful current that transports water from west to east displacing volumes from the Pacific into the Atlantic but let me tell you traveling around Cape Horn is no joke it's a turbulent and dangerous voyage and many Brave Sailors have been lost attempting it and finally let's address the elephant in the room or should I say the two-toned ocean you know the one I'm talking about where two differently colored types of water seem to be existing alongside each other well I hate to break it to you but that's not where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans Collide it's just fresh water that's filled with sediment coming across some dark salty water from the ocean with the video captures is most likely taken from somewhere in the Gulf of Alaska thinking of color palettes have you ever wondered why the ocean comes in a variety of shades of blue well get ready for a fun science lesson first things first let's get one thing clear the water that covers our entire planet is not really blue it's clear it's the depth in what's in and below the water that influences this color it appears blue if the water is deep enough that light isn't reflected off the bottom this is due to the fact that sunlight can be absorbed or reflected by water molecules as it enters the ocean the wavelengths of light are more likely to scatter giving the ocean its blue color whereas the longer wavelengths are absorbed close to the surface if there is nothing in the water but uh well water but that's not all the ocean's bottom and its particles can also affect the color for example in some areas of Greece the water comes in a gorgeous turquoise shade this happens due to the sea floor being filled with white sand or rocks it turns a lovely light blue tint when the light reflects back up from the bottom the health of the ocean can also be seen in its color rarely is the water clear and it frequently contains suspended particles contaminants tiny organisms a small plant and animal life like a doctor reading a patient's Vital Signs oceanographers examine the color of the ocean to determine its Health now let's talk about phytoplankton the tiny plants that give the ocean its green tin these little guys use chlorophyll to eat up sunlight and through photosynthesis make up about half of the oxygen people need on our planet now finally let's talk about the deepest blue found in our planet's Waters due to its location in the middle of a massive Oceanic world the water off the shore of Easter Island in the Southeast Pacific Ocean is deep and extraordinarily transparent here the ocean's layers barely mingle and nutrients aren't forced up from the deep bottom leaving the water remarkably clear for the human eye it looks like it's Indigo colored so if you ever find yourself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean make sure to take a peek now consider this could there be any other body of water underneath the ocean how could that possibly be it turns out that there's an underwater river making its way near the Australian Shores this undersea phenomenon is made up of sheets of dense water that find their way beside the ocean floor at a leisurely pace of about half a mile a day that may not sound like much but get this it's a whopping 65 feet thick and goes for over 60 miles can you imagine riding down that River in a submarine or scuba diving next to it talk about a wild adventure the findings of researchers who first identified this phenomenon were astounding this is the first time that these dense shelf water Cascades have been observed in such warm water despite the fact that they are apparently more popular in high latitude regions according to Australian scientists these Rivers pop up because water evaporates during the summer and then it's cooled in the wintertime who would have thought that the cyclical nature of the seasons could produce something so amazing it's not the only place in the world where these events happen researchers have discovered underwater rivers in different countries all over our planet for example they found a similar one in the Black Sea one off the coast of Portugal and even one in Mexico but back to the Australian River because that's where the real excitement is the researchers use seafaring gliders to uncover this amazing Discovery these self-propelling robots come with special sensors that check the water temperature salt quantity Plankton productivity and oxygen levels they can also make popcorn nah just kidding they can work underwater without pause for up to eight months which is way longer than most humans can stay underwater and let me tell you these gliders did not disappoint thanks to them we now know about this incredible underwater river in Australia of our ocean is still a mystery to us best both good and bad news right well on the bright side there's much to be excited about in the future sure exploring the universe sounds good but there's still much to do here so why not start with the deep blue sea as for the information scientists don't yet know don't worry they're not just sitting around twiddling their thumbs through some good old-fashioned exploring we're learning more and more about the secrets of the sea as of 2021 we've only mapped about 20 percent of the sea floor using high-tech sonar systems mounted on ships now that's a lot but when you consider that the USC floor alone is bigger than all 50 states put together you can see there's still a long way to go and let's not forget about all the amazing creatures down there scientists think there could be up to a million different species in the ocean with the majority still waiting to be discovered.