Welcome to my World

06/16/2022

The moon experiences moonquakes, just as Earth experiences earthquakes.
Moonquakes, however, aren’t nearly as powerful as earthquakes, but they are, in fact, caused by the moon’s tidal relationship with Earth.

We don’t actually know what the tallest mountain on Earth is.
But we can narrow it down to two! Mount Everest’s summit is higher above sea level than the summit of any other—about 29,029 feet high. But Everest is actually, technically tied with Mauna Kea because when measured from the base of the summit below sea level to its top point, Mauna Kea measures 56,000 feet.

Some hikers have summited Everest without oxygen.
Speaking of Mount Everest, did you know that people have actually climbed the mountain without the help of oxygen before? Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler became the first to do so on May 8, 1978, according to Respiratory Physiology and Neurobiology.

The Pacific Ocean is Earth’s largest ocean basin.
It covers about 63 million square miles, after all.

The wettest place in the world is Mawsynram.
When it comes to annual rainfall, Mawsynram, India takes the cake with over 10,000 millimeters of rain per year. You can thank monsoon season for that!

The most snowfall per year happens in Japan.
Surprising? Perhaps, but Aomori City, Japan may just be the snowiest place in the world. On average, Aomori City experiences 312 inches of snowfall annually.

The world’s largest living structures are coral reefs.
What’s a living structure, you ask? Well, a coral reef is, in fact, alive. According to NOAA, coral reefs are a crucial part to thousands of species per unit of any of the other ecosystems on Earth.

Oceans cover about 70 percent of Earth’s surface.
According to NOAA, about 70 percent of the surface of Earth is covered in oceans.

However, humans haven’t even discovered all of Earth’s oceans.
But that doesn’t mean we’ve explored it all! The NOAA adds that we—meaning, humans—have only discovered about 20 percent of Earth’s waters.

06/16/2022

A 14th-Century monastery sits on a cliff above the Aegean Sea in Mount Athos, Greece.

06/14/2022

Ocean Facts That Will Blow You Out of the Water

1Thanks to the ocean, most of our planet is dark.

Oceans have an average depth of 12,100 feet, and because light waves can only pe*****te 330 feet of water, everything below that point is dark. Seeing as water makes up most of the planet, this means that most of Earth exists in absolute darkness all the time.

2The loudest ocean sound came from an icequake.

In 1997, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) captured one of the loudest sounds ever recorded, which they named "The Bloop." The sound was loud enough to be picked up by sensors over 3,000 miles away. Originally, researches noted that the nature of the sound made it seem like it came from an animal, although no known animal exists that is large enough to make that sound. After 15 years, the NOAA concluded that the noise came from an icequake, which is when seismic activities cause a break in frozen ground. However, many people still question this conclusion, and The Bloop is the source of many conspiracy theories to this day.

Blue tang swimming in coral reef
Willem Kalkwiek/Shutterstock
You probably know that the majority of our planet's surface is covered by bodies of water. (Specifically: It's a hair shy of 71%.) What you might not have heard, though, is that sea waves can move at hundreds of miles per hour. Or that the ocean's depths are home to millions of tons of gold. Or that scientists have more detailed, more extensive maps of Mars than they do of our own oceans. Yes, as deep as our planet's oceans are physically, they're deeper still when it comes to mystery and fascination. The following little-known facts about the ocean are sure to blow you out of the water.

06/14/2022

Moon Facts That Are Out of This World.

1Thanks to the ocean, most of our planet is dark.
Dark underwater cave
Shutterstock
Oceans have an average depth of 12,100 feet, and because light waves can only pe*****te 330 feet of water, everything below that point is dark. Seeing as water makes up most of the planet, this means that most of Earth exists in absolute darkness all the time.

2The loudest ocean sound came from an icequake.
Ship sailing through icy ocean in Greenland
Shutterstock
In 1997, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) captured one of the loudest sounds ever recorded, which they named "The Bloop." The sound was loud enough to be picked up by sensors over 3,000 miles away. Originally, researches noted that the nature of the sound made it seem like it came from an animal, although no known animal exists that is large enough to make that sound. After 15 years, the NOAA concluded that the noise came from an icequake, which is when seismic activities cause a break in frozen ground. However, many people still question this conclusion, and The Bloop is the source of many conspiracy theories to this day.

3The ocean's canyons make the Grand Canyon seem small.

Not to take anything away from the gorgeous Grand Canyon on Earth, but the Zhemchug Canyon, located in the Bering Sea, has a vertical relief of 8,520 feet—almost 2,500 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon.

4The biggest ocean waves are beneath its surface.

The biggest ocean waves are not the ones that you can see from the shoreline. As physical oceanographer Kim Martini told Deep Sea News, the largest waves that occur in the ocean are called internal waves, which take place between two fluids with two different densities. As these internal waves travel—for thousands of miles, no less—they can grow to be 650 feet tall.

5Water at the bottom of the ocean is incredibly hot.

In these deepest parts of the ocean, the water temperature may only be 2º to 4º Celsius, with the exception of water coming out of hydrothermal vents in the seafloor. The water released from these vents can be up to 400º Celsius (750º Fahrenheit). It's the intense pressure at these depths—the same pressure that would crush you—that keeps the water from boiling.

6The ocean is home to nearly 95% of all life.

With so much going on well below the surface, it's easy to forget that the oceans are teeming with life. In fact, 94% of life is aquatic, according to the USA Science & Engineering Festival. That means those of us who live on land are part of a very, very small minority.

7Coral produces its own sunscreen.

Too much sunlight can damage the algae that live inside coral in shallow water. To protect the algae, which are a main source of sustenance for the coral, the corals fluoresce. This creates proteins that act as a sort of sunscreen for the algae.

8There's enough gold in the ocean for each of us to have nine pounds of it!

There's around 20 million tons of gold dispersed throughout the oceans. It is, however, diluted pretty much to a pulp—its concentration is only a few parts per trillion, according to the National Ocean Service. The ocean floor also has undissolved gold embedded in it, but it's not cost-effective to mine it. However, if the ocean's gold were equally distributed among every person on earth, we'd each receive nine pounds of it.

9There's an ice sheet larger than the continental United States.

Just two vestiges of ice remain from our planet's last ice age: the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The latter of the two is staggering in size. Clocking in at 5.4 million square miles, according to the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC), it's roughly the size of the continental United States and Mexico combined!

10Sharks have their own underwater "café."

It turns out, humans aren't the only creatures in need of a winter vacation. In 2002, scientists discovered an area in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean, partway between Baja California and Hawaii, where typically coastal great white sharks will migrate to in the winter. The scientists named the spot the White Shark Café and some sharks hang around the area for months before heading back to the coast for warmer weather.

06/14/2022

06/11/2022

Earth’s continents were once known as Rodinia.
We know—you’ve heard of Pangea; not Rodinia. But hear us out a sec—800 million years ago, the tectonic plates of Earth came all together, uniting each of the continents and it was called Rodinia. It eventually broke apart and re-collided, which resulted in the formation of the Appalachian Mountains in North America and the Ural Mountains in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Pangea came to be 250 million years ago.
After Rodinia, came Pangea. The separated continents came together again—this time called Pangea. In this version of Earth’s continents, there was one universal ocean. After 50 million years of Pangea, it broke apart again, this time into two masses known as Gondwanaland and Laurasia. It broke apart a final time into the seven continents and oceans we recognize and learn about today.

The first-ever Earth Day was instituted in 1970.
Wisconsin Senator Ga***rd Nelson founded Earth Day with the hopes of increasing public awareness of environmental concerns. The date April 22 was chosen to maximize students’ involvement as it served as a mid-point between students’ Spring Break and final exams of the year.

06/11/2022

Asia is the largest continent.
Asia spans 1,7139,445 square miles and is home to some of the most densely populated countries in the world (China, India, and Indonesia—to name a few).

Sixty percent of Earth’s population lives in Asia.
With more than 40 countries through the continent of Asia—some of which are the most populated countries of all—it’s not hard to wrap your head around the fact that 60 percent of the world lives there.

The driest place on Earth sits adjacent to the biggest body of water.
The Atacama Desert in Chile is known as the driest place in the world, but despite it being dry-to-the-bone, the desert is actually right next to the biggest body of water on Earth—the Pacific Ocean. Though it’s hot in the Atacama Desert, its temps average at about 63°F.

NASA actually studies the Atacama Desert for insights on other planets.
The Atacama Desert is one of the most extreme climates there is on Earth, so of course, it makes sense that NASA uses it as a tool, studying it to find further insight as to how life may be able to exist on other planets with such extreme climates.

06/11/2022

06/11/2022

Lights illuminate the abbey of Mont Saint Michel at twilight in France.

06/09/2022

Asia is the largest continent.
Asia spans 1,7139,445 square miles and is home to some of the most densely populated countries in the world (China, India, and Indonesia—to name a few).

Sixty percent of Earth’s population lives in Asia.
With more than 40 countries through the continent of Asia—some of which are the most populated countries of all—it’s not hard to wrap your head around the fact that 60 percent of the world lives there.

The driest place on Earth sits adjacent to the biggest body of water.
The Atacama Desert in Chile is known as the driest place in the world, but despite it being dry-to-the-bone, the desert is actually right next to the biggest body of water on Earth—the Pacific Ocean. Though it’s hot in the Atacama Desert, its temps average at about 63°F.

NASA actually studies the Atacama Desert for insights on other planets.
The Atacama Desert is one of the most extreme climates there is on Earth, so of course, it makes sense that NASA uses it as a tool, studying it to find further insight as to how life may be able to exist on other planets with such extreme climates.

Days on Earth are increasing.
Yup—they’re getting longer. At its inception 4.54 billion years ago, a day on Earth would have registered as six hours long. Nowadays, we all know that a day lasts 24 hours, but that’s ever-changing. In fact, the days increase by 1.7 milliseconds every century.

06/09/2022

From data collection to caring for injured turtles, get hands-on in one of Earth's most important sea turtle conservation programs.

06/09/2022

Moai in a line stand beneath a double rainbow at Ahu Akivi in Easter Island, Chile.