The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Atlantic Ocean
It was an uphill climb today, with the ship’s engines struggling mightily against the steep incline. Eventually, however, after a long, arduous struggle to the summit, the ship finally crested the Mid-Atlantic Ridge this afternoon. Of course, we gained no real elevation other than that which comes from the peaks and troughs of the rolling swell out here in the pelagic zone. Still, if you kept a close watch on the charts, you could see that we had far less water under the keel today than we had yesterday.
Up from the depths, the sea floor rises here at the ridge from four to five thousand meters all the way up to less than a thousand in some places, not counting those spots where the submerged mountains actually do break the surface to form some of the Atlantic’s islands of course. This ridge, which stretches from Iceland to Bouvet Island in the south, encompasses over 9,000 miles while dividing the Atlantic on a north/south axis. As we learned from our resident oceanographer, Jim Kelly, the ridge marks the divergent boundary of two plates on the ocean floor where sea floor spreading occurs. These two plates are moving apart from one another as fresh magma seeps up into the ocean at a rate of just over three centimeters per year. Maybe in the distant future, our twelve-day journey will need to add another day, up to a baker’s dozen, to account for the extra growth.
While the ship’s engines kept a steady pace “up” the ridge, we busied ourselves with a variety of activities both inside and out on deck. We learned about Portugal’s Henry the Navigator, and his contributions to maritime exploration, which then led to his country’s remarkable rise to prominence. Some of us, including more than one of the ship’s crew, then tried our own hands at navigation by practicing the use of the sextant on the bridge wing. All this while still managing to take in afternoon tea and immerse ourselves in a good book surprisingly manages to fill the day. But then again, that’s what we like about a vacation at sea, and now we know the hard part is over with anyway…it’s all “downhill from here.”
It was an uphill climb today, with the ship’s engines struggling mightily against the steep incline. Eventually, however, after a long, arduous struggle to the summit, the ship finally crested the Mid-Atlantic Ridge this afternoon. Of course, we gained no real elevation other than that which comes from the peaks and troughs of the rolling swell out here in the pelagic zone. Still, if you kept a close watch on the charts, you could see that we had far less water under the keel today than we had yesterday.
Up from the depths, the sea floor rises here at the ridge from four to five thousand meters all the way up to less than a thousand in some places, not counting those spots where the submerged mountains actually do break the surface to form some of the Atlantic’s islands of course. This ridge, which stretches from Iceland to Bouvet Island in the south, encompasses over 9,000 miles while dividing the Atlantic on a north/south axis. As we learned from our resident oceanographer, Jim Kelly, the ridge marks the divergent boundary of two plates on the ocean floor where sea floor spreading occurs. These two plates are moving apart from one another as fresh magma seeps up into the ocean at a rate of just over three centimeters per year. Maybe in the distant future, our twelve-day journey will need to add another day, up to a baker’s dozen, to account for the extra growth.
While the ship’s engines kept a steady pace “up” the ridge, we busied ourselves with a variety of activities both inside and out on deck. We learned about Portugal’s Henry the Navigator, and his contributions to maritime exploration, which then led to his country’s remarkable rise to prominence. Some of us, including more than one of the ship’s crew, then tried our own hands at navigation by practicing the use of the sextant on the bridge wing. All this while still managing to take in afternoon tea and immerse ourselves in a good book surprisingly manages to fill the day. But then again, that’s what we like about a vacation at sea, and now we know the hard part is over with anyway…it’s all “downhill from here.”
