From the surface, Chetumal Bay looks almost placid – just a wide sheet of water with no hint of drama underneath. But below that calm is Taam ja’, a massive underwater sinkhole, or “blue hole,” that’s turned into an unexpected mystery for scientists.
At first, the plan seemed straightforward: map it with sonar, get a depth, move on. Instead, the early readings created a bigger problem – what if Taam ja’ isn’t anywhere near as shallow as those first numbers suggested?
The most recent measurements point to a hole that drops far deeper than expected, and the true bottom may still be out of reach…
Right, I just mean the pole would be able to poke the bottom of whatever hole. As far as exploring, yeah, I mean of course a cave system beats a straight pole lowered from the surface.
I’m thinking some kind of automated submersible, like a drone but in the water.
The murky water is something I don’t have an answer for. Then you’re just falling back on sonar.
I don’t think they’ll find Godzilla down there, or any kind of “monster” or anything that would wow the average doom scroller. But we might find new life down there, something that is suited to the higher pressure. And that could be interesting. Though, just like we’d die down there, it would likely die “up here”.