Largest Underwater Waterfall In The World

If we were to talk about waterfalls, we must imagine the most beautiful scenery we have been dying to go to that is a hotspot for tourists worldwide. For the record, the Victoria waterfall holds the record for being the biggest waterfall in the world whereas the Angel waterfall is the steepest waterfall in the world.

But one might be surprised about the existence of a waterfall in the ocean. Some might consider this to be something extraordinary but the fact is that it genuinely exists. The region is situated in the Faroe Bank channels between Scotland and Iceland.

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This enclosed space is where the Norwegian ocean connects with the northern Atlantic ocean through a continuous water flow that is freezing cold until the ocean's depth. Seeing that this region crosses the Greenland-Scotland ridge, it produces a huge waterfall with the water falling from a height of 840 meters straight into the Atlantic ocean.

This area happens to be an oceanography research site since 1955 but the discovery of this waterfall was only known recently. Before this, the area of the overflow of Faroe Bank channels came from a cold water source that flows along the western parts of the channel.

Based on new research, most of the water from the waterfall comes from a silent eastern water flow. This water flow channels the cold water towards the south through the ocean current that is deep and fast.

A physical oceanography researcher from Stockholm University, Leon Chafik sees this discovery as strange but unique since their research tells them of another similar structure that exists in the Denmark Strait.

The Denmark Strait which is located between Iceland and Greenland as well as in line with the Faroe Bank channel happens to be the location of the biggest waterfall in the world which is triple the size of the Angel waterfall.

When the cold water from the strait meets with the water from the Faroe Bank channel in another part of Iceland, the water that moves at a fast pace will produce a current strong enough into part of the northern Atlantic. These two straits play a crucial role in ocean circulation including the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation(AMOC).

AMOC consists of two pathways in which the first one carries cold water from a higher altitude to the Atlantic ocean. The other shallow pathway carries the hot Atlantic water towards the north.

This movement is the main control of the world's climate system but there are still many things that remain unknown with regard to the system. Based on the cycling model established by the researcher, the overflow at the Faroe strait did not directly turn to the Faroe-Shetland strait as expected.

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But instead, the current from this strait flows almost towards Norway before turning to the south and straight towards the waterfall and far from this continent. This turning route is also influenced by the state of the wind and ultimately suggests that the atmosphere can also influence the speed of the wind.

This situation can be seen in the 2000 decades when the current on the eastern side was really strong at the time. In that particular year, the water flow to the Faroe strait was at the lowest level whereas the overflow itself was at the highest level. Some other straits were seen to provide water flow to the waterfall.

However, despite the strait seen to be permanent, the strength of the current can change based on the change of the wind. According to the researchers, the condition of various winds in the Nordic ocean was seen to cause the water to flow towards the Faroe strait from many pathways and depths.

This situation was observed in the 90s went the overflow current of Faroe was much weaker compared to the usual state and the main source of the water comes from northern Iceland along the pathway on the western side. But because of unstated reasons, it has now changed.

Due to this, the flow of water found and the ocean current plays an important role in ocean circulation at the highest altitude. This discovery has improved our limited understanding of the reverse circulation of the Atlantic ocean.

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