Mystery of Bermuda Triangle Solved - Facts Analysis

Story:

Alas ! Finally ! Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved…!!
Computer studies of ocean floors around the world, particularly the area known as The Bermuda Triangle, reveal evidence of massive methane explosions in the past. For years, believers in the paranormal, aliens, and other outlandish theories pointed to the the disappearance of ships and aircraft as an indicator of mysterious forces at work in the “Devil’s triangle.”
Scientists have finally pointed the rest of us to a more plausible cause. The presence of methane hydrates indicates enormous eruptions of methane bubbles that would swamp a ship, and projected high into the air-take out flying airplanes, as well. Any ships caught within the methane mega-bubble immediately lose all buoyancy and sink to the bottom of the ocean. If the bubbles are big enough and possess a high enough density they can also knock aircraft out of the sky with little or no warning. Aircraft falling victim to these methane bubbles will lose their engines-perhaps igniting the methane surrounding them-and immediately lose their lift as well, ending their flights by diving into the ocean and swiftly.

Analysis:

Bermuda Triangle had been a real mystery for a long time, because of more than 100 ships and planes that were lost in this area under mysterious circumstances without any trace. More than 1000 people are reported to have been lost in this area. Also called Devil’s Triangle, Bermuda Triangle is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean. The Triangle area is bordered by Puerto Rico, Miami and Bermuda(As shown in image below). The size of this area is ranges from 500,000 to 1.5 million square miles. Many people have associated this area with paranormal or extraterrestrial activity because of the disappearance of aircrafts and surface vessels under mysterious circumstances.

Map of The Bermuda Triangle area — The Bermuda Triangle area

The first reported incident was that of Flight 19, a group of five bomber aircrafts belonging to US Navy which disappeared in the triangle area in 1945 on December 5, 1945. Also, another search and rescue aircraft PBM Mariner that was sent out the next day to search for them disappeared within 20 minutes of departure. on 30 January 1948, Star Tiger a BSAA Avro Tudor IV plane disappeared without any kind of trace. And on 17 January 1949, another Avro Tudor IV plane belonging to BSAA vanished between Bermuda and Jamaica. Many ships and surface vessels were also reported to have disappeared in this area under mysterious circumstance without any kind of trace. Reports say that none of these planes or ships sent signals referring to any kind of wreckage or sinking. They also stated that the navigational equipment does not work naturally in the triangle area, misleading the navigators and causing accidents. Many theories and stories came up since then explaining these accidents, claiming to have solved the mystery of Bermuda Triangle. Some called it beyond science and paranormal, while others associated with some kind of extra-terrestrial activity. We have analyzed various credible sources and reports and are being logical in our analysis here.

The Flight 19 accident was a technical failure that happened because of failed navigational equipment. The lead pilot lost his track and tried flying with visual landmarks for a long time. Since it was a training flight, the other four aircrafts had to follow the lead pilot. As a result of this over-flight, the aircrafts lost on fuel and disappeared in the ocean. The PBM Mariner aircraft that was sent to search them had a history of explosions due to vapour leaks, because it does a potentially long search and rescue operation that requires heavily loaded fuel. The reasons behind disappearance of other two planes were explained by BBC. Star Tiger aircraft’s heater was not reliable and had failed during the flight, also, one of the compasses was found to be faulty. For this reason, the pilot must have decided to fly at a very low height of 2000 feet that eventually led to the loss of fuel and collapsed into the ocean. In fact, Star Tiger was a converted warplane that was eventually taken out of passenger service because of its poor safety record. Avro Tudor IV disappearance was a catastrophic technical failure as a result of poor design. At that time, the aircraft heater technology was pretty new. The heater and the hydraulic pipes were significantly close. The hydraulic vapour escaped from a leak, which got on to the hot heater and caused a sudden explosion.

Coming to the many ships and surface vessels that were reported to be disappearing in Bermuda Triangle, there are many natural reasons associated with it that relate to the topography of the ocean in Bermuda Triangle. Bermuda Triangle is indeed a vortex of extreme natural conditions. Many lost ships have actually been located, but some disappearances did not have reasons. The Discovery Channel did good research in this area and came up with all possible conditions that could have led to these mysterious disappearances.

They used modern SONAR scans and satellite surveys and came up with 3-d maps of Bermuda. Near Puerto Rico, they found a 5 miles deep trench in the siesmic centre of Bermuda Triangle. Any ship or plane crashed in this area cannot be found. The second attribute is the Gulf stream, which is a deep ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and then flows through the Straits of Florida into the North Atlantic. Any small plane making a water landing or a troubled boat having engine trouble can be easily carried away by this strong under water current. The ocean researchers discovered that this fastest ocean current of Atlantic dragged an 8000 tonnes OMTATA ship for over 200 miles, and so could not be found at the location it was sunk. This dislodging of sunk ships and plane makes it difficult to trace them. Another attribute that the researchers believe in is Rogue Waves, because all the missing planes and ships never left any signal of sinking or impact, which means that the accidents should be accompanied by speed and violent means all of a sudden. These rogue waves are 10 times bigger than the general waves, which can drag ships in instantly. This happens because of frequent storms in Atlantic that dislocate and produce the high incidence of rogue waves near bermuda triangle. All these factors, including possible human error are the main reasons behind the disappearance of ships and planes in Bermuda Triangle.

Methane Hydrates

It is a fact that Bermuda Triangle contains large fields of methane hydrates on the continental shelves. The story mentioned is a hypothesis that came up after laboratory experiments carried out in Australia that have proven that methane bubbles can indeed sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water. The study assumed that periodic methane eruptions in Bermuda Triangle produce regions of frothy water that does not provide adequate buoyancy for ships and results in rapid sinking without any kind of warning. Further, they assumed that the Gulf stream can drag these sunken ships. The video below shows how this can be possible.

However, there are large stores of undersea hydrates worldwide, (Refer Map) including the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast, and no where such ‘mysterious’ disappearances like Bermuda Triangle are reported. Moreover, United States Geological Survey claim that no large releases of gas hydrates are believed to have occurred in the area of Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years. And, there is no definite logic in saying that these methane bubbles can drag aircrafts flying in the sky. Therefore, this part of the story is a hoax.

Many investigations by government and other agencies state that the number of disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle is no real mystery, because it no different from the number of disappearances in any other proportionate area of any other ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard also mentions that the area does not have an unusual number of incidents, considering the number of ships and aircraft that pass through on a regular basis. Note that the number of disappearances and accidents in this area is often exaggerated and far beyond facts. Moreover, under normal weather conditions, navigation compasses are shown to behave normally in this area. Therefore, it is quite clear that the mystery behind disappearance of ships and flights in Bermuda Triangle have solved logical explanations, and that it is associated with some paranormal or extra-terrestrial activity is a certain hoax. Mysteries and paranormal aspects like these are generally over-hyped because they are very popular and profitable.