Florida’s ocean floor just collapsed, with sudden oceanic sinkholes emerging off the coast. Massive craters have opened beneath the water, swallowing sandbars and reshaping the seafloor in hours.
In late 2024, a NOAA research vessel mapping the continental shelf near the Florida Straits identified large circular depressions on the seafloor. Some of these sinkholes measured over 300 feet across and descended deeper than a 30-story building. Underwater drone footage showed sediment columns spiraling downward and water currents flowing into the voids. Researchers determined that these feature…
The Pacific Ocean looks calm from space, but scientists are currently studying a region where entire tectonic plates disappear into the Earth. Earthquakes can shift the ocean floor. Volcanoes rise
The Pacific Ocean looks calm from space, but scientists are currently studying a region where entire tectonic plates disappear into the Earth. Earthquakes can shift the ocean floor. Volcanoes rise from the darkness, and organisms live under pressures that would crush most living things. In 2026, researchers are still finding things they did not expect.NOAA missions are mapping parts of the Pacific…
Scientists are currently mapping and studying parts of the Pacific Ocean floor that have never been examined in detail, and recent expeditions have produced a wide range of findings, from deep-sea
Scientists are currently mapping and studying parts of the Pacific Ocean floor that have never been examined in detail, and recent expeditions have produced a wide range of findings, from deep-sea ecosystems to fossilized shark teeth. Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are using sonar to create more complete maps of the seafloor between Hawaii, Guam, and th…