What is the name of the sea without shores. Truly, the Sargasso Sea is one continuous phenomenon. Video: Mysterious sea without shores
The Sargasso Sea is an unusual sea, unlike other seas of our planet. It has no earthly shores. This is a region of the Atlantic Ocean with stagnant water, surrounded on all sides by currents: in the east - the Canary, in the south - the Trade Wind, and in the northwest - the North Atlantic.
Here are some amazing facts about the Sargas Sea: about its features, sargas algae and inhabitants.
They circle, moving only clockwise around the waters of the Sargasso Sea, and do not allow them to connect with the very cold waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, so the water temperature in the Sargasso Sea never drops below +18 degrees. In summer, the temperature on the surface of the water can reach +28 degrees. If in other seas the boundaries of the coasts are unchanged, then in the Sargasso Sea they change, and the area of \u200b\u200bthe sea itself changes accordingly (from 4 to 8 million square kilometers).
Why does the Sargasso Sea have such a name? In 1492, for the first time in the history of mankind, Christopher Columbus with his expedition found himself in this sea, in stagnant waters completely covered with algae, on which some kind of berries were visible. In fairness, it should be noted that during the year there is not always so much vegetation, but, apparently, Columbus was not lucky. He later said that he felt like he was in a jar of seaweed. The fruits on the algae reminded the sailors of the wild grapes from their native places, which was called "salgazo", from which the algae were called Sargasso, and the Sargasso Sea itself.
The Sargasso Sea is quite deep (from 6 to 7 km). The water in it is very salty and at all times was amazingly clean and transparent (up to 60 m). However, in recent years, huge amounts of garbage have been thrown from ships cruising the Atlantic Ocean. Ocean currents carry it to a certain part of the Sargasso Sea, so now there is a man-made floating island of garbage on the sea.
At first, scientists thought that the current brought the Sargasso here, but later it turned out that they grow at the bottom of the sea, then break off and float on the surface of the water surface. When their lifespan comes to an end, they sink to the bottom and rot.
Many marine life have chosen Sargassum "thickets" as their home. Here you can see various crabs, turtles, sea igloos, mackerels, shrimps, corals and others. Obviously, the most bizarre representative of the depths of the Sargasso Sea is the sea clown. He clings to the Sargasso with fins that look like twisted handles. I must say that the clown is a good master of camouflage, he disguises himself as the algae surrounding him. Hiding in them, clownfish can grab and devour prey as large as themselves. And if he is frightened, he begins to quickly swallow water and swells to a spherical state.
But the most famous representative of the animal world of these waters is the European eel. He lives quietly for several years in fresh European waters, and when he reaches adulthood, along with external changes, the eel has an irresistible desire to get into the waters of the Sargasso Sea. Gathering in groups, eels at night begin to move towards the goal. Sometimes, moving from a reservoir to a reservoir, they fall into shallow water, overgrown with grass. It would seem a hopeless situation, but the desire to get into salt water is so strong that the fish literally crawls through these areas. In three months from Europe, eels can travel almost six thousand kilometers. And here it is the coveted salty water of the Sargasso Sea! There they descend to a depth of more than a kilometer, lay their eggs and die. From the eggs, fry appear, which rise to the surface, are picked up by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and set off on a long journey to Europe. Then they grow up, and the cycle repeats again.
Around the Sargasso Sea at all times there were many legends and scary stories. Some of them are connected with the Sargasso. The sailors said that there could be so much algae that the ship became entangled in them and could not move. In fact, algae do not impede the movement of the ship, although they can cover almost the entire surface of the water.
Sailboats here indeed often perished, but because of the calm. For many days the ship could stand motionless, water and provisions ran out, and people died. Previously, thoroughbred horses were transported along this route, often a ship with animals fell into a calm. To save the rest of the water, the horses were thrown overboard. Since then, these places are also called "horse latitudes". It is said that the sailors of ships passing here at night see the ghosts of horses and hear their plaintive neighing.
At all times, it is believed that the Sargasso Sea is a graveyard of ships. Yes, there are sunken ships here, but there are also many fictions telling about untold riches and treasure chests at the bottom of this fantastic sea.
In ancient times, these waters were called cursed. The proximity of the infamous Bermuda Islands, more precisely, the Bermuda Triangle, located in the eastern part of the Sargasso Sea, leaves its mark. Here, for unknown reasons, many people died, many schooners, warships, and aircraft disappeared. Problems arose even with ultra-modern liners equipped with powerful radio communications. In the 20th century, three American military planes flew over these places, communication with them was interrupted, and the planes disappeared. They were never found.
Skeptics try to explain such cases by bad weather, a hurricane, fog or something else, but no one can answer the question: why no one has ever found at least a small piece of the missing ship.
This unique sea is located in the North Atlantic - between the West Indies and Bermuda. It has no shores, as it is limited not by the earth's firmament, but by ocean currents - the Gulf Stream in the west, the North Equatorial in the south and in the east - the Canary. This, as you probably understood, is about the Sargasso Sea.
This sea is distinguished by an extremely calm disposition - not only storms, but even strong winds do not happen there. They say that if you put a burning candle on the deck of a ship in the Sargasso Sea, it will not go out until it burns out to the end. The fact is that a permanent anticyclone reigns in those parts, which creates an area of high pressure over the sea. It was this cyclone that the sailors of past centuries “thanked” for the constant calm. Sailboats drifted through the ominous waters for weeks, waiting for even the slightest breeze. It happened that the team, left without food and drink, died. That is why the Sargasso Sea is still called the graveyard of ships.
Sargasso Sea - a graveyard of ships
And ancient navigators wrote in ship's logs about gigantic whirlpools that suddenly appear, which can drag ships passing by. These funnels appeared regardless of what the weather was like. Perhaps the cause of such whirlpools is the warm Atlantic currents.
But the constant calm and colossal whirlpools were not the only danger that lay in wait for the sailors. The ships of Christopher Columbus, who, by the way, discovered this sea, hardly overcame it also because its water area is literally covered with algae. Like bunches of grapes, they float all over the place, blocking the passage of ships. Actually, the sea got its name precisely because of these algae, reminiscent of grapes (from the Portuguese - sargaco).
Algae that look like grapes According to rough estimates, there are up to 11 million tons of algae in the Sargasso Sea. If earlier sailors were terribly afraid of being captured by the Sargasso, who, winding on the propeller, did not allow the ship to budge, then they are not afraid of modern ships. Much worse is the fact that once quite clean (transparency up to 60 meters) sea water is now polluted with fuel oil.
Incredible Journey
However, these circumstances do not threaten shipping, but the numerous inhabitants of the Sargasso Sea, because flying fish, crabs, and sea turtles live in its warm, almost stagnant water.
But the most affected by water pollution is the eel, which lives in freshwater reservoirs in Europe. This amazing fish makes an incredible journey to the Sargasso Sea in order to descend to a depth of 1200 meters, give birth to offspring, and then die.
Sargasso sea eels I must say that another sage of antiquity - Aristotle - believed that eels spontaneously arise in swamps or come from earthworms. This misconception lasted until the 16th century, when scientists finally traced the migration routes of eels.
Having reached the age of seven, these snake-like fish move along streams and rivers to the Atlantic. They can cover a distance of more than five thousand kilometers in 80 days. Once in a body of water that does not have access to the sea, eels are able to get ashore in order to find a water stream through which they will get to the sea. After laying eggs in the sea, the eggs die. The fry, which have developed from eggs, are picked up by the Gulf Stream and carried to the east. The journey to the European coast takes the younger generation approximately 2.5 years.
Sargasso Sea
Without shores and without wind
Sargasso is the most mysterious of all the seas: it has neither shores nor a permanent area, but the indicator of the transparency of the water of this sea without shores is one of the highest in the world. In the area of the Sargasso Sea, the bottom is visible up to 60 m deep! Yes, and there is something to see in this region of the Atlantic Ocean, limited by four circular ocean currents - the Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic, the Canary and the North Trade Winds.
The discovery of the Sargasso Sea is attributed to Christopher Columbus himself, who described in detail the places where he and his crew were stuck for a long two weeks in the very heat of September 1492. Columbus left a colorful story about this deceptively calm area of the Bermuda Triangle, where despair gradually seizes sailors at the sight of how helplessly the sails drooped. Rowing in this place is not possible because of the thick layer of algae that wraps around the oars.
Due to the location of the Sargasso Sea in a zone of constantly elevated atmospheric pressure, the weather here is mostly calm. However, the lack of wind is not always a plus. Sailing ships that fell into the "sea without shores" were immobilized for weeks, if not months. The team, which quickly ran out of food and fresh water, was dying. Especially in the area of the Sargasso Sea, horses transported from Europe to America died. The corpses of unfortunate animals were thrown into the water, which is why the sea in the sailor's jargon was nicknamed "horse latitudes."
In the calm and warm waters of the Sargasso Sea, the temperature of which never drops below 18 ° C, life flourishes: it is here that the largest reserves of floating brown algae - Sargassum are concentrated, which move freely in the water column due to the presence of small air bubbles in them.
Sargasso is a real hospitable home for many fish, sea turtles, molluscs, sea anemones and crustaceans. There are especially many Atlantic eels here, which annually gather in huge numbers in the warm waters of the sea to give rise to a new life. Eels tend to get here from the rivers of America and Europe, sometimes overcoming completely unimaginable distances, up to 6000 km!
This text is an introductory piece. From the book Newspaper Tomorrow 209 (48 1997) author Tomorrow NewspaperROUTING WITHOUT SHORE (RUSSIA) Y. Byaly November 4 - By presidential decree, B. Berezovsky was removed from the post of Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. November 13-15 - Members of the "Chubais team" A. Kazakov, M. Boyko and P. Mostovoy were dismissed in connection with the "book scandal". November 19 - V. Chernomyrdin announced
From the book Bermuda Triangle: Myths and Reality author Kushe Lawrence David2. 1492 Christopher Columbus, the Sargasso Sea and the Bermuda Triangle Christopher Columbus was the first traveler known to us to pass through the Sargasso Sea and cross the area of the Atlantic, which we now call the Bermuda Triangle. It is thanks to Columbus that
From the book Newspaper Tomorrow 823 (35 2009) author Tomorrow Newspaper"EMPIRE OF BRONZE AND WIND..." 50 years of Alexei Shiropaev Aleksey Alekseevich Shiropaev is a poet. Restless, wild, gray-bearded - not a dervish, not a Viking, every time I see him as an old man, he is also a child - an inextinguishable Russian type. In some fluid, superficial dimension, he
From the book To the Barrier!_N 15_ 2009 author Newspaper DuelFROM THE SHORE OF CHAD? The latest research proves that it was in Cameroon over 300 years ago that the famous "Russian African" Abram Petrovich Gannibal, the great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, the greatest poet of Russia, was born. The young Beninese scientist Dieudonné Gnammancu, a graduate of
From the book of Revelation by Nikola Tesla by Tesla NikolaTHERE SHOULD BE MORE USE OF WIND ENERGY TODAY Wind power is underestimated. One day, it will decisively take the place it deserves, due to the need to replace the existing way of obtaining energy. Let's take a good gust of wind, according to my estimates, this is half
From the book Literaturnaya Gazeta 6263 (No. 59 2010) author Literary NewspaperFrom distant shores Biblioman. Book dozen From distant shores Yenisei short story XX-XXI centuries. - Krasnoyarsk: Semitsvet, 2010. - 240 p. with portrait In Russian literature, the short story is a fairly rare genre. Only Belkin's Tale comes to mind right away. The more interesting it will be for the reader
From the book "Golden Ear" of military intelligence author Boltunov Mikhail EfimovichOn distant shores Senior Lieutenant Mikhail Shatberashvili, the operator of the intelligence processing service of the Krym ship, took up duty in the morning. The day foreshadowed to be calm, because today, October 6, 1973, one of the most important religious holidays was celebrated in Israel
From the book Newspaper Tomorrow 963 (17 2012) author Tomorrow Newspaper From the book Results No. 2 (2013) author Results Magazine From the book Shine and Poverty of Russian Literature: Philological Prose author Dovlatov SergeyJogging against the wind Alexander Yanov is a longtime opponent of Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn dropped something disdainful of Yanov a couple of times. Yanov published dozens of critical materials regarding Solzhenitsyn in the American press. Yanov produces extremely
From the book Pagan Calendar. Myth, rite, image author Grashina M. N.IMBOLC - THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE GODDESS. HOLIDAY OF WIND AND FIRE Graphic
From the book Results No. 2 (2014) author Results MagazineLook for the wind / Society and Science / Technology Look for the wind / Society and Science / Technology On the White Sea, Russia will build one of the largest wind farms in Europe. But does this mean that Russia is switching to "green" energy? Familiar to Europe
From the book Literaturnaya Gazeta 6469 (No. 26 2014) author Literary NewspaperMontenegrin from the banks of the Volga 70 years ago, in the summer of 1944, 18-year-old Yugoslav Branko Arsenievich arrived at a military camp near Tula. He had to learn to be a tanker. Looking at the young Yugoslav, many of his comrades could not imagine that in front of them was a veteran of the partisan
From the book Newspaper Tomorrow 31 (1080 2014) author Tomorrow NewspaperOn the high banks of the Amur Alexander Prokhanov July 31, 2014 18 Politics Society Economy For more than a year now I have been taking off and running around the country with one single goal - to see the signs of how Russia, mortally wounded in the ninety-first year, is being healed, how
From the book To the valleys embraced by peace author Gorbunov Mikhail NikolaevichFROM THE BANK OF THE BLUE DANUBE 1 They came here together, not ashamed of either the living or the dead, or their past. Nothing seemed to separate them before. They were, as it were, put to sleep, perhaps by this past itself, because it also found its limit here. Above the ground, above the pigeons, almost
From the book Confrontation. Obama vs Putin author Pushkov Alexey KonstantinovichA gust of cold wind In early May 2006, the entire Western press was discussing Richard Cheney's blatant attack on Russia and Putin. "Russia - USA: a gust of cold wind" - this is how the French Le Figaro reacted to Cheney's statements. And a week later it was already in the spotlight
Synopsis of the extracurricular activity "Why is the Sargasso Sea without coasts?"
Author: Dyatlova Lyubov Mikhailovna, teacher of additional education, MBU DO DDT, Nevinnomyssk.
Description. This material can be used in elementary grades in the lessons of the world around. It can also be useful and interesting for teachers of additional education for classes in associations of the biological and environmental direction of institutions of additional education.
Goals: consolidate knowledge about water bodies, in particular the seas; form an idea of the Sargasso Sea.
Tasks: to introduce the history of discovery and features of the Sargasso Sea; instill curiosity, interest in nature.
Guys, let's remember the reservoirs you know. Almost all of you named the river and the sea. What is the sea? The sea is the part of the ocean that is separated by land. That is, every sea has a shore.
Why, then, is it said that the Sargasso Sea is a sea “without shores”? Do such seas exist? Ordinary - no. And Sargasso is the only exception in the world.
This discovery was made by the famous navigator Christopher Columbus in September 1492 during his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
A team of almost 100 people went on an expedition on three ships. The main one is the caracca "Santa Maria" and two caravels: "Nina" and "Pinta".
Here is what Columbus himself wrote about what he saw in the ocean in his diary: “We began to notice many bunches of green grass in the water. And, as could be judged by its appearance, this grass had only recently been torn off the ground.
But the wind soon died down, and the speed of the caravels fell. And the "grass" in the sea water became more and more. On September 23, 1492, Columbus made the following entry in his diary: “Since the sea was calm and smooth, people began to grumble, saying that the sea was strange here, and the winds would never blow that would help them return to Spain.”
It was also surprising that the compass needle stopped pointing at the North Star, shifting a few degrees to the northwest.
Nevertheless, the journey of Columbus ended safely. He discovered not only the amazing sea, but already in October of the same year he landed on the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti ...
Why did the Sargasso Sea get its name? Due to the large amount of algae covering the surface of the sea. To the Portuguese sailors, they seemed similar in appearance to grapes, and so they began to call this place - the Grape or Sargasso Sea. There is another version: the name comes from the Spanish word "sargazo", which means "focus" in translation.
Since then, the mysterious sea has quickly become notorious. For many centuries, the Sargasso Sea has terrified sailors. There are many legends about how ships got entangled in algae and died, and the whirlpool carried sailors to the seabed. Mysterious calms, mysterious fogs, thick algae haunt the human imagination.
And today, the Sargasso Sea is full of mysteries: the “sea of ghosts” and the “sea of \u200b\u200bwreckage” inspire superstitious fear to sailors. The fact is that part of its water area is the no less mysterious Bermuda Triangle, which also gave rise to many rumors.
With the development of navigation, there were fewer secrets associated with the Sargasso Sea. Its shores are more correctly called borders. Their difference from the land ones is that they undergo movements during the year, or “travel”. Because of this, the area of the sea can vary from 8 to 4 million square kilometers. The boundaries are formed by currents: in the west it is the Gulf Stream, in the north - the North Atlantic, in the east - the Canary, in the south - the Trade Wind. Not only currents, but the entire body of water, along with algae and other marine life, slowly rotate clockwise.
There is also an explanation for why Columbus's compass deviated from the North Star - not far from the Sargasso Sea is the north magnetic pole.
What is it - the Sargasso Sea?
The water in the Sargasso Sea is saltier than ocean water. It is bright blue in color, and it is also the most transparent on our planet (visibility reaches 60 meters).
The depth of the Sargasso Sea ranges from 4 to almost 7 kilometers. The water temperature never drops below +18 degrees. Due to the high atmospheric pressure, it is always calm here.
The diversity of life in the Sargasso Sea is much lower than in any other. Nevertheless, algae are inhabited by a wide variety of living creatures: shrimps, traveler crabs.
Numerous species of fish live, in particular, mackerel.
The most remarkable inhabitant of this sea is the Sargasso sea clown, which has a color like that of algae, so it is almost invisible among the plexus of marine vegetation. This fish is able to cling to algae with its fins and climbs on them more often than swims in the water.
Many living organisms in the Sargasso Sea survive only by their camouflage. For example, shrimp have white spots on their shells, sea needles look like algae outgrowths.
The body shape of many inhabitants, as a rule, resembles leaves and twigs of algae. This is how a seahorse hides.
And another mystery of the Sargasso Sea: it is like a cradle for freshwater eel fish. Fish come here in the summer from the rivers of America and Europe to spawn, die after it ends, and their cubs, using their instincts and landmarks, overcoming a huge distance, return exactly to where their parents lived. And then after 8-9 years they again sail to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.
This is a real miracle of nature - the Sargasso Sea.
Take a look at the physical map of the world: the expanses of the Atlantic Ocean near the mainland of North America in the region of 20 and 40 degrees north latitude form a large oval of light green color. Here it is, a real miracle of nature - the Sargasso Sea. Its shores are not land, as is usually the case, but huge oceanic rivers-currents: in the East - the Canary, in the north and west - the North Atlantic, and in the south - the Passat. These currents move in a clockwise direction.
The currents act as dams or watersheds and keep the waters of the Sargasso Sea from mixing with the cold waters of the North Atlantic. The difference between these coasts and land coasts is that they undergo movements during the year, or “travel”. Because of this, the area of the sea can vary from 8 to 4 million square meters. km.
Another distinctive feature of the Sargasso Sea is a huge amount of floating seaweed, per 1 sq. km. km. its surface contains more than two tons! Christopher Columbus discovered this sea in 1492, he gave it the name - "seaweed bank". An interesting fact is that all the algae that live there belong to the same species. The Portuguese navigators gave them the name "sargasso" because the air bubbles, with which the algae stay on the surface of the water and move, are similar to the grape variety that is common in Portugal.
For a long time, oceanographers could not decide how algae appeared here. A recent version was that they were brought by whirlpools from Cuba, the Bahamas and Antilles, or from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. But in fact it turned out that they are born in this sea, live and die. When the algae die off, the bubbles they hold on to burst and the plants sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Sargasso algae are inhabited by a wide variety of living creatures: crabs, numerous species of fish, especially mackerel, and shrimp.
The surface waters of the sea contain more than 69 species of fauna and flora. They are poor in plankton, and because of this they are transparent. The water in the Sargasso Sea is saltier than the surrounding ocean. It has a bright blue color and is the most transparent on our planet. The water temperature is always higher than in oceanic waters and varies between 20-23 degrees in January and 21-27°C in July. This temperature affects the rapid and rapid development of algae and other microorganisms.
The depth of the Sargasso Sea is 4-7 km. The characteristic weather is calm, due to the fact that the sea is located in an area with high atmospheric pressure. Previously, ships sank in these places, along with the animals they transported, so the bottom of the sea stores many human and animal corpses.
A feature of the Sargasso Sea is also that it serves as a cradle for freshwater eels. They come here in the summer from the rivers of America and Europe to spawn, die after the end, and their cubs, using their instincts and landmarks, overcoming a huge distance, return exactly to where their parents lived. And then after 8-9 years they return to the Sargasso Sea again, spawn and die.
The Sargasso Sea is also called the “ladies' sea” due to the predominance of calm weather. Only at first glance this sea is calm. Soviet oceanographers in 1970 discovered here strong upward movements of water from the depths, similar to whirlwinds. Scientists have found that they affect the decrease and increase in water temperature. The sea itself strongly influences the climate of the northern hemisphere of our world.