The world's largest waterfall is under water

Waterfalls are eye-catching, fascinating with their power and beauty. You can endlessly watch a huge body of water, with a roar rushing down. The largest waterfall on Earth in height is 3.5 kilometers. True, to enjoy its view is unlikely to succeed, because the waterfall ... underwater.

Underwater record holder

The Danish Strait Waterfall is located in a small part of the ocean between Greenland and Iceland. Its dimensions are about 160 km, and water falls 3,505 meters from the Greenland Sea to the Irminger Sea, transferring about 5 million cubic meters of water per second. With such characteristics, it eclipses all the giant waterfalls on land. For example, Angel, the highest waterfall above sea level, located in Venezuela, is three times shorter than the Danish Strait Falls, and Niagara Falls carries 2000 times less water, even during peak flows.

How can such streams of water fall down while under water?

The whole secret is the temperature difference between the very cold Arctic waters of the Greenland Sea and the slightly warmer Irminger Sea. Since the molecules in cold water are less active and take up less space than in warm water, they “cling” to each other, making cold water more dense (and therefore heavy). Therefore, when water from the Greenland Sea meets water in the Irminger Sea, it flows under its weight down to the bottom.

Reaching the bottom, water from the Danish Strait waterfall forms a massive stream that moves south, replacing warmer water near the surface, flowing north. The amount of water in this massive stream is 20-40 times larger than the volume of all river waters flowing into the Atlantic.

With one eye

Although the Danish Strait waterfall is hidden from human eyes, you can still admire the illusion of an underwater waterfall. To do this, you need to go to the tropical island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Off the coast of the Le Morne-Braban peninsula in the southwest, unusual underwater landscapes and strong undercurrents carrying sludge and sand flows give the impression that a real underwater waterfall flows there.

Tourists from all over the world come to admire this beauty. Here you can even rent a plane to view the "underwater waterfall" from a bird's eye view.