Perhaps because it lies only a few miles from us, we tend to
forget the Pacific Ocean’s vital importance to our daily lives here
in South Valley. We can easily view it from Fremont Peak or Mount
Madonna.
Perhaps because it lies only a few miles from us, we tend to forget the Pacific Ocean’s vital importance to our daily lives here in South Valley. We can easily view it from Fremont Peak or Mount Madonna.
I thought about this during a celebrity talk the oceanographer Robert Ballard gave last month at Cupertino’s Flint Center. Ballard famously discovered the wreck of the Titanic. But that amazing find is just one of many he has achieved in his 40-year career.
From all his accomplishments, you might think he was some sort of romanticized adventurer like Captain Nemo in “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” And in fact, he does credit Jules Verne’s famous science fiction novel for pushing him as a kid into his oceanographer career. But in the lecture he gave on Oct. 21, he came across to me as a rather average man who happens to be filled with wonder for the world of water covering three-quarters of our planet.
During the lecture, he spoke, of course, about his discovery of the Titanic. Getting a laugh from the audience, he pointed out in a slide projection the bow point where Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet “stood” in the blockbuster movie about the 1912 sinking.
Ballard also shared a little-known story that gave a spy-thriller twist to the tale of the Titanic’s discovery. In recently declassified information, he described how the search for the luxury liner was actually a ruse used by the U.S. Navy in the search for nuclear-powered submarines USS Scorpion and USS Thrasher, which both sank in the same Atlantic vicinity as the Titanic.
Navy brass asked Ballard, who was a reserves officer, to undergo a 60-day search for the Titanic to draw attention from their real intention of finding out what happened to the two subs.
On the 56th day of the search, Ballard found the Titanic 12,600 feet below the ocean’s surface. Naval administrators weren’t exactly pleased by his startling discovery. “You blockhead,” one ranking official told him. “You weren’t actually suppose to find the damn thing.”
In his more than 65 underwater expeditions, Ballard’s findings have truly astonished the world. In 1973 and 1974, he explored the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in a three-person submarine named “Alvin.” He discovered this huge underwater mountain range was actively volcanic. His finding proved the then controversial theory of plate tectonics, that the continents were slowly being pushed around the Earth by geological forces on “plate” segments.
In 1977 near the coast of Ecuador, Ballard and his team of scientists discovered underwater hot springs in which giant worms – some measuring 8 feet long – lived in virtually boiling water. The finding startled biologists who believed living organisms could never exist in such temperatures.
Ballard discussed in his lecture the importance of exploring historic ship wrecks such as the Bismarck, the Yorktown, and various Roman trading vessels in the Mediterranean Sea that he has discovered. They all serve as “time capsules,” virtually preserving the moment of their demise, he said. He believes wrecks, including the Titanic site, should be treated as internationally-protected underwater museums.
One fascinating idea Ballard discussed at the Flint Center lecture was his belief that the mummified bodies of ancient mariners might be found in the wreckage of ships lost thousands of years ago in the Black Sea. The deep waters in the Black Sea hold very little oxygen, allowing for no decomposition of organic material. If wrecks of ancient vessels – including Greek and Roman ships – were discovered in the Black Sea, he theorizes well-preserved bodies might be found still on board.
The Black Sea flooded during a great cataclysm 10,000 years ago, and some people believe this gave rise to the story of Noah’s Flood. Perhaps one day, underwater archeologists will discover the remains of villages devastated by this flood. Who knows? Maybe the mummified bodies of people who witnessed that biblical event might be uncovered.
Despite all that’s been discovered in Earth’s oceans, much of it remains a mystery. A mere one-tenth of one percent of all the earth’s oceans have been scientifically explored, Ballard said. Among the mountains and canyons snaking along thousands of miles underneath the surface, strangely-evolved life forms and ecosystems might one day be found. I imagine many new and weirdly-wonderful creatures await us down in the deep.
To stimulate interest in young people for the world of science, math and technology, in 1989 Ballard founded the JASON project. He named it after the hero of Greek myth, Jason, who led his “Argonauts” in their own adventure of discovery. Each year, more than 1.7 million children get introduced to the world of oceans through Ballard’s highly-innovative program. Through a technology called “tele-presence” that uses advanced communication technology, they are able see in real time what a robotic submersible’s cameras broadcast from the ocean depths. Ballard hopes millions of children will be so thrilled by his tele-presence exploration, they’ll seek out careers in science and technology.
The oceanographer made the point in his lecture that the funding NASA spent on its last Saturn mission would pay for nearly 300 years of what’s presently spent on exploring our world’s oceans. Considering that the oceans are an essential component of human survival, this illogic in priorities seems to me to show a severe lack of foresight in preserving our own future.
The ocean lies only a few miles from South Valley. It feeds us and entertains us and keeps us warm with our relatively mild climate throughout the year. And, most of all, if we open our hearts to it, it amazes us.
Next time you go to the coast, look out on the swelling surface and consider what a huge mass of water the Pacific Ocean truly is. It covers an astonishing one-third of our planet. Many mysteries still hide in wait for someone to discover.
Maybe, like Robert Ballard, perhaps that someone might be some student now attending a South Valley school whose favorite book is “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”
