An astonishing underwater mountain has been discovered by excited scientists which is about twice the size of the tallest building on earth, the Burj Khalifa.
Oceanographers were left stunned when they detected the gigantic 5,249ft seamount – and they hope the discovery will lead to further scientific findings, the Mirror reports.
The vast formation was found off the coast of Guatemala by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, who used a multibeam echosounder on board their important Falkor research vessel.
One of their main researchers, Dr Jyotika Virmani, admitted they had not set out to find anything like that, saying it was totally unexpected.
He expanded on the discovery by saying it “really highlights how much we have yet to discover”.
He said: “A complete seafloor map is a fundamental element of understanding our ocean so it’s exciting to be living in an era where technology allows us to map and see these amazing parts of our planet for the first time.”
Co-founder and president of the Institute, Wendy Schmidt, echoed Virmani’s views, saying they are “thrilled to continue” their discovery of “the unexpected, the awe-inspiring and the new”.
The discovery marks the latest step in the oceanographic community’s quest to build a public map of the entire ocean floor. So far, almost one-quarter has been mapped – and over the last decade Schmidt Ocean Institute’s surveys have added about 1.4 million square kilometres of data.
Another eerie discovery in 2023 also made waves in the oceanographic community, when a golden orb was spotted 3.2km down off the coast of Alaska on August 30.
There is still no feasible explanation for what it is – in the footage from the find, a member of the Seascape Alaska 5 crew can be heard saying: “It’s like the beginning of a horror movie”.
Another researcher says: “It’s almost like it was a face and whatever it was on it fell off.” Another says: “It’s definitely got a big old hole in it, so something tried to get in or get out.”
