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…
So the line they brought for the CTD was only 500m, and they only made it to 423 before the reading didn’t line up with the wire out.
So it’s deep, but sometimes you can’t bring the CTD & winch you want, you bring the one you can get.
They’ll figure it out sooner than later, but for anyone who works with these thing it’s clickbait title.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone gets funding or a billionaire to want to film this hole so they’ll stick an ROV in it and make a documentary about it. That would probably be more reliable than a standalone CTD or rosette.
They’ll have to broadcast it live on netflix with all kinds of pre-hype about atlantis and mermaids and shit, and a cut-away every 5 minutes to a couple of C-list celebrities sitting on a couch on a stage that looks like a live studio but it’s not, and they will jangle their keys and talk about how spooky and dark the water is.
Cash me outside girl, Hawk Tuah girl, and a Kardashian