Belizes great blue hole is a unesco world heritage site.
Its famous for being one of Jacques cousteau’s top 5 places to scuba dive.
But what lies at the bottom of this gigantic blue hole remained a mystery, until now.
A team of divers embarked on the first ever deep dive to the very bottom, and I’m going
to tell you what they found, right now on IO.
What is good, this is io, not to be confused with the movie IO that was just released on
Netflix.
If you found this channel because you were looking up that movie, why don’t you subscribe
for daily updates on some of the most interesting news stories we find on the internet.
By the way, I’m charlotte, and if you don’t want daily news updates, you should subscribe
if you like my shark shirt.
Belize’s great blue hole is located off the coast of belize in lighthouse reef.
It’s the worlds second largest sinkhole.
Its 1000 feet wide and over 400 feet deep.
Zat is a big hole.
This hole is so big that it could swallow two boeing 747s with plenty of room left.
Its such a big, deep hole that what lies at the bottom was pretty much a mystery.
People have guessed that the bottom could be home to the loch ness monster, the believed
to be extinct megalodon shark, among other things.
Jacques Coustea brought his ship the calypso to the hole in 1971 in order to map its depths.
Recently, Richard Branson, British virgin islands resident and entrepreneaur along with
a team of divers from discovery channel, set off on the first ever dive to the bottom of
the great blue hole.
They were also working in collaboration with Ocean Unite, an organization that promotes
ocean awareness and the importance of protecting at least 30 percent of the ocean by the year
2030.
After being submerged for 10 minutes, the dive team edged down the wall of the hole,
where they came upon a giant stalactite.
The stalactite was part of a greater network of stalactites.
The team basically discovered that the hole is actually made up of a complex system of
caves that actually formed on dry land.
In this area, sea levels were actually much lower, by hundreds of feet.
And it actually wasn’t that long ago, around 10 thousand years ago, the sea level rose
by 300 feet as a result of melting ice around the world.
This correlates with the ending of the last ice age.
As the ocean started to rise, the network of caves flooded.
Further down, the team had to go through a thick layer of hydrogen sulphide, that formed
over the course of centuries.
Hydrogen sulphide is a pretty intense substance.
The team didn’t expect to find anything underneath it.
But at the bottom of the hole, the team found basically a graveyard of crabs, squids, starfish,
sconches, and other ocean creatures that fell into the hole, sank to the bottom, then ran
out of oxygen and died.
And then of course, lying at the bottom of the hole, there was plastic.
Piles and piles of plastic bottles and waste.
The team, as well as virgin voyages who sponsored the expedition, too this as a sign that we
need to stop using single use plastic.
When asked about the mythical monsters of the deep, and whether or not they live at
the bottom of the great blue hole.
Branson said that the real monsters facing the ocean are climate change and plastic.
The hole is essentially proof of the effects of climate change, and how quickly the oceans
can rise.
Speaking about the dive, Richard branson as well as the prime minister of belize Dean
Barrow discussed the protection of 10 percent of belize’s oceans.
The ocean in this area is extremely important for belize’s economy, its residents and
the local wildlife.
They want to work together on banning grill nets, nicknamed the walls of death, which
do a ton of damage to marine ecosystems.
Lastly, branson said that his grandchildren will be in their thirties by 2050, I don’t
want them to grow up in a world without corals, without the wonders of the ocean.
We need governments to act now to protect at least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030,
and reduce Co2 emissions as quickly as possible, with a goal of zero net emissions by 2050.
I know you guys are anxious to hear me respond to the comments from the mashinima video,
where I pronounced the word incorrectly.
For the record, every video that you see on IO is a collaboration between several people,
all of which didn’t know how to pronounce it.
Machinima also looks like the word machina, which is the Italian word for car.
Some of you really let me have it, others were understanding
Tobyatron 205.
To be honest you are smart in some ways but not all.
Your only reading off a screen behind the camera that we can not see or you rehearsed.
Really.
2 degrees, 2000 researched, written and performed news stories later, and because I pronounced
one word, a made up word, incorrectly, now suddenly im not smart?
By the way, I write every word you hear on this channel, unless im improvising a joke
on the spot.
BJ mac if you say deus ex machine its pronounced makina.
Just fyi.
Yet another reason why I thought the word was pronounced that way.
Most people don’t know this, but my name is actually pronounced, Charlotte.
Not charlit.
My mother named me charlotte because that is the european way to say it, both my parents
are immigrants.
I say my name is charlit because that’s the way north Americans pronounce it.
If I can get over the fact that no one knows how the right way to pronounce my name, you
guys can get over the fact that I pronounced mashinima wrong.
Mounty k – why did I click I don’t even know what that is?
Oh yeah I clicked cuz I love this channel.
Da hassle haus – that pronunciation just earned you a new subscriber just to see you
cover the comments on the next video.
Im glad my up made you subscribe.
Maybe my sass will make you stay.