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Seafarers have long spun tales about times when the sea around them glowed with a pale light in every direction as far as the eye could sea. Jules Verne even made note of the phenomenon in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but it is such a rare occurrence that most believed them to be fish stories … until recently.
In 1995 a satellite captured images of the an area in the Indian Ocean giving off a strange luminescence for 3 contiguous nights. No one knows the cause of the spectral emissions of yet, and theories abound, but now it’s certain that such a thing is happening.
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I’ve actually seen this while in the US Navy. When we passed through this light many of the old timers said they had seen it before. Just thought I’d share that.
stugrater said: “I’ve actually seen this while in the US Navy. When we passed through this light many of the old timers said they had seen it before. Just thought I’d share that.”
Lucky dog…. that would certainly be a sight.
Phytoplankton blooming has been observed by satellite for many years. In fact, Jim Lovell (from the Apollo 13 mission) provides quite a famous example of the phenomenon: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/heroes/lovell.htm
I’v seen this close up before. Freaked out when I saw it, but upon closer look it was shrimp, I think.
The cause is likely to be Noctiluca. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctiluca & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctiluca_scintillans
That is way cool. If I were to guess, which is all it would be, there are many creatures of the deep that have “built-in” lights and occasionally venture toward the surface. Their uses range from lures to mating. I recently watched an episode on a species of octopus located around South America. They were referred to as extremely aggressive even when not provoked. Anyways, the creature had bright pulsing lights throughout its body. Of course this is only one species that takes the “disco party” with.
FYI: Not 100% on the network but I believe it was KERA/Public Television.
I’ve seen it before. It’s very… calming
That sound like something ghost-believers would take up and use it to pieces…you know, souls of drowned soldiers in combat, that sort of thing.
It’s actually the ghost of arctic ice.
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Many people are always so skeptical, it’s a wonder they trust themselves. Of course in our American society NERDS say where’s the proof, high lighting our weird fasintaion of lawyers. It’s ok to trust people as long as you read the situation. People told those sailers they had a good fish story.
Example: Wiki is like listening to a 5 year old. Who knows who writes that shit. Sometimes it’s 5 year olds writing.