The Bermuda Triangle is an area bounded by invisible lines between Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico where planes are said to mysteriously disappear into thin air, or ships to sink in deep water. Many stories have been told about the disappearances. Theories include aliens, geomagnetic storms, the lost continent of Atlantis, and strong vortices that drag victims directly to another dimension.
But scientists over the years have pointed out that there are plausible explanations for the mysterious disappearances, and that the risks of traveling through the Bermuda Triangle are no different than other oceans. One possibility is that the boats might have encountered unexpected giant waves. Although this would not explain all the missing planes, such as the bomber squad called ‘Flight 19’. However, the Bermuda Triangle would not be the only place in the world where anomalies have been recorded. Now, what appears to be a new ‘Triangle’ has been discovered south of the Atlantic Ocean, west of the South African city of Cape Town.
New anomaly in the ocean
Oil tanker Willowy was on his way to his next destination on May 31 when officers aboard were requested to appear on the bridge. The reason was that his tanker, along with four other ships, had started sailing in circles and even nearly collided . As reported by the British television channel Sky News , the ships were unable to navigate the southern Atlantic Ocean, west of Cape Town, South Africa. Willowy officials initially thought that the cause of their strange navigation was due to strong currents pushing the ship. However, there were no such currents at the time.
The following explanation was that the anomaly could have been caused by a systemic manipulation of GPS , which was created to allow ships to communicate their position and other relevant information so that other ships or stations can know it and avoid collisions. The technology is known as the Automatic Identification System (AIS).
It transmits a unique identifier for each ship to another nearby ship, including their GPS location, speed, and where they are going. The signals are also collected via satellites and used to track any suspicious behavior at sea. According to a global analysis of these data by environmental groups SkyTruth and Global Fishing Watch, there have also been several circular incidents at a great distance from Chinese ports.
According to Phil Diacon, executive director of the marine intelligence company Dryad Global, the circles that occurred in China were attributed to GPS interference, and has also been happening in places like San Francisco. However, this was not the case with Willowy.
“GPS interference can have serious consequences, with half of all victims at sea related to navigation errors ,” Diacon said.
However, GPS interference attacking other vessels is incredibly rare, especially since they were far from the South China Sea, where the most common failures occurred. They are also far from the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that it was not done by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that uses GPS interference to trick ships into their waters. So, ruling out GPS interference, what is causing Willowy and four other boats to circle?
Weakening of the magnetic field
Apparently, the European Space Agency (ESA) has the answer. The magnetic field appears to be weakening in a large section between Africa and South America, and this has been going on for 50 years. It even has a name and is called “South Atlantic Anomaly“. The area with a weaker magnetic field has grown larger and is moving westward, and over the past five years, the second center of least intensity has grown in southwest Africa, extremely close to where Willowy and four other ships they began to navigate in circles.
Experts believe it is happening as Earth heads for a pole reversal that would occur in a few centuries. Certain boats like Willowy use a gyro in conjunction with other systems. A gyro compacts true north and allows officers on board to determine where you are going and head towards it: if a gyro fails, the ship would start to navigate in circles like the Willowy did.
Fortunately, officers knew what happened, and according to Sky News, the ship was able to resume its original course after switching to its secondary gyroscope alongside a magnetic compass. The company that owns Willowy explained the phenomenon as “an incidental collapse” and that “the repair will be carried out in the next port where the ground technicians will identify the cause.” But not everyone agrees entirely with the official explanation, and they consider that the anomaly that is occurring in the Atlantic Ocean is much more than a weakening of the magnetic field, and they believe that another “Bermuda Triangle” has been discovered which creates a serious danger for the boats when navigating those waters.
What do you think about the anomaly of the Atlantic Ocean? Is it a new “Bermuda Triangle” ? Or do you believe the explanation of the weakening of the magnetic field?
