Lost in the Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle captures the imagination of those who seek an explanation for souls lost over a vast  area off the southeastern coast of the United States. History is riddled with stories of airplane and ship disappearances around the world that left no trace behind, but the Bermuda Triangle stands out as an area that elevates these mysteries to a whole new level.

Sensational journalism in the 1950’s over lost aircraft set the stage for the Bermuda legend. Movies and TV dramas fueled the hype and many still believe that ancient civilizations like Atlantis or alien encounters lie behind the untimely disappearances.

I don’t know where we are. We must have got lost after that last turn.  < One of the last F19 student pilot transmissions >

Real life stories of how airplanes and ships seemingly vanished into thin air will continue to proliferate as long as the victims remain unaccounted for. However, a little science and careful scrutiny of historical records will show that there are explanations for even the strangest of stories.

The Triangle

The area known as the Bermuda Triangle encompasses a region bound by Bermuda, Miami, and Puerto Rico. It covers roughly 440,000 square km.  The number of lost aircraft and ships is minute in comparison to the volume of traffic that passes through this enormous area every day.

Unusual Weather and Currents

Some have proposed that unusual weather phenomena cause the conditions that lose travelers throughout this region, yet this area experiences hurricanes and tropical storms like much of the surrounding region.

The Gulf Stream may partially be at fault in developing strange weather. Tropical storms thrive on the availability of warm moist air and a current of  warm water like the Gulf Stream could be provide that fuel for storm activity. However, there is no scientific explanation to assume that the water mass near Florida behaves any differently further north where the Gulf Stream continues to run its course.

The Marine Environment

There is no apparent marine feature that would impact any of the shipping routes.

The continental shelf extends only a short distance off the coast of Florida where it quickly drops to the deep ocean basin of the Atlantic.

Water depths for most of the triangular area are 19,000 feet (over 5 km deep).

Beyond the relatively flat ocean basin, the Bermuda islands lie about 600 miles east of the North America on a feature called the Bermuda Rise. This rise is a submarine volcanic platform, known as a seamount, that was formed roughly 33 million years ago. Surrounding the seamount is a sea floor that is a much older 123 million years old.

A series of media articles point to recent discoveries yet to be formally announced suggesting the release of methane gas from frozen methane hydrates on the seafloor may have presented a hazard to travelers in parts of the region.  When a methane seep is released in the water column it will rise and expand. On the surface the ocean can appear to be “erupting” which may have lead to the capsizing of ships, yet there are no reports of unusual eruptive behavior of the ocean water.

Magnetic Field

Inspection of the magnetic field anomalies reveals an elevated anomaly in the Bermuda Triangle. However, the anomaly is not a particularly unusual feature as the Earth is filled with similar variations in the field. Anomalies such as these arise from variations in the concentration of magnetite in basalt found in rocks far below the Earth’s crust.

Magnetic field anomalies due to variations in composition of deep crustal material.
Magnetic field anomalies due to variations in composition of deep crustal material. Anomalies are about one thousand times less than the strength of the overall magnetic field of the Earth. (NASA)

Routine flights through this area reveal no unusual magnetic field changes that would alter navigational equipment. After all, the Miami airport is a well-traveled international hub.

Disappearances Explained

Researchers have gone back through historical records and found that pilot error was usually at fault. The famous Flight 19 and disappearance of several accompanying planes was found to be caused by serious pilot error in flying with pre-existing flawed equipment and no timing or  navigational equipment. Changing weather conditions and faulty equipment are common factors with other planes that vanished in the area.

There are several reasons that ships traveling through the Bermuda Triangle never made it to their destination.

Many of them traveled with more cargo than their design specifications leading to catastrophic structural breakup while at sea.

Others broke up due to the nature of the cargo itself, such as the USS Proteus (AC-9) that disappeared in 1941 with a load of corrosive bauxite that would have been very corrosive to interior of the cargo bay.

In almost every case the reports of lost ships can also be attributed to gale force conditions that compromised the ill-fated ships and crew. This article may be updated as new research is released.

 

12 thoughts on “Lost in the Bermuda Triangle

  • March 20, 2016 at 8:10 pm
    Permalink

    Hey there, You have performed an incredible job. I’ll certainly digg it and in my view recommend to my friends. I’m sure they will be benefited from this site.

    Reply
  • May 27, 2016 at 4:04 am
    Permalink

    My spouse and I absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your post’s to be
    precisely what I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content for you personally?
    I wouldn’t mind composing a post or elaborating on a number
    of the subjects you write concerning here. Again, awesome weblog!

    Reply
  • June 15, 2016 at 1:21 am
    Permalink

    Hey There. I discovered your blog site using msn. This is an extremely
    well written article. I’ll make certain to bookmark it and
    return to read a greater portion of your useful information. Many thanks for the post.
    I am going to certainly comeback.

    Reply
  • June 19, 2016 at 11:30 pm
    Permalink

    Howdy! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of
    my previous room mate! He always kept chatting about this.
    I will forward this post to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read.
    Many thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  • July 14, 2016 at 10:12 pm
    Permalink

    I found myself very pleased to get this site. I need to to many
    thanks for your personal time only for this fantastic read!!
    I definitely really liked every small amount of it and I do you have bookmarked to see new
    things on your own site.

    Reply
  • July 15, 2016 at 8:34 pm
    Permalink

    Hi there, yeah this paragraph is actually good and I have learned lot of things from it regarding blogging.
    thanks.

    Reply
  • July 23, 2016 at 6:10 pm
    Permalink

    Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
    you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is
    fantastic, let alone the content!

    Reply
  • July 24, 2016 at 2:38 pm
    Permalink

    I’m really impressed with the writing skills
    and also with the layout on your own weblog. Is this a paid theme or do you customize it yourself?
    Anyway maintain the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a great
    blog like this one today.

    Reply
  • July 25, 2016 at 8:06 pm
    Permalink

    This is my first time visit at here and i am genuinely impressed to read everthing at alone
    place.

    Reply
  • July 27, 2016 at 6:58 pm
    Permalink

    You’re so cool! I don’t suppose I’ve truly read anything similar to this
    before. So good to find out someone with a bit of unique thoughts on this material.
    Really.. many thanks for starting this up. This website
    is one thing that’s needed on the web, someone with some
    originality!

    Reply
  • August 9, 2016 at 5:09 pm
    Permalink

    I got this site from my friend who shared with me about this web
    page and now this time I am visiting this web site and reading very informative content at this place.

    Reply
  • August 27, 2016 at 4:26 pm
    Permalink

    Maybe you have thought about writing an ebook or guest authoring on other
    blogs? We have your blog based on the very same subjects you discuss and would love to obtain you
    share some stories/information. I realize my viewers would enjoy
    work. If you’re even remotely interested,
    go ahead and shoot me an email.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to MayeOIntveld Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *