I guess it could seem rather obvious, given that I’m working on a series about mermaids, but I’ve been doing some research on the ocean. Now first off, wow. There is so much a person could study, it’s hard to know where to begin! But secondly, in the course of all this, I’ve picked up some interesting tidbits that I thought might be cool to share (even if they may not have all made it into the books).
Ocean Myths
A couple pages with collections of ocean myths and mysteries.
Coral
Did you know that some species of coral can live for over 2,000 years – and some of them may even be over 4,000 years old?
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association: Coral Reef Conservation Program
- U.S. Geological Survey Newsroom Page on Black Coral
Life at over 6 miles deep
The Mariana Trench is a chasm in the ocean that has a measured depth of 6.831 miles – and yet, even at that depth, there’s still life inside it.
Water Pressure…
…is a #*&%@.
My husband and I took a trip to the Smithsonian last July. In the Natural History Museum, there was a section devoted to the ocean, which was fascinating (really, if you ever get a chance to go to the many museums of the Smithsonian – do it). During the visit to that section of the museum, however, I saw a display showing the effects of depth and water pressure on a Styrofoam cup.
Yikes.
The cup on the left: at the surface. The cup on the right: at 3,000 meters deep under 4,423 psi worth of pressure.
So there you go, a bit about the ocean and my ongoing research for these books. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading!
