WATCH: Live Video Feed Of Mariana Trench, Deepest Place On Earth

First Posted: May 07, 2016 04:30 AM EDT
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A live video feed of the deepest place on our planet, the Mariana trench, is engrossing viewers all over the world. Located 11 kilometers under the western Pacific Ocean, a distance which would be further down than the peak of Mount Everest is seen above the sea level, the trench is a not a very well known area owing to its massive depth.

Since April 20, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) exploration vessel Okeanos Explorer has been doing a deepwater survey of the Mariana Trench. Meanwhile, the NOAA's website and YouTube have been live streaming the video footage of the exploration captured by its deep ocean robot. Called the Deep Discoverer, the robot has three cameras and is being operated remotely.

The Okeanos Explorer is currently surveying a particular area of the Mariana trench's sea floor, located 3,685m deep under the water, towards the east of Philippines. The mission of the explorer will continue until July 10, and will be tracked online in real time. The NOAA website posts daily updates, images and videos from each dive on its website. There is also a mobile app for enthusiastic viewers, who can follow the excitement of ocean discovery directly on tablets and smartphones.

Amazing marine animals, like a jellyfish that looks like some sort of an alien tripod, have already been found in the Mariana trench since the beginning of the mission. Incidentally, the trench is named after the nearby Mariana Islands which belong to an island arc created on an overriding plate.

While the Challenger Deep in the Mariana trench, the deepest known point on Earth, has been visited before, there is still a lot more to explore, discover and learn about this part of our planet. Apart from numerous microorganisms and visible creatures, the area is also host to bizarre geological structures like mud volcanoes. NOAA wants to lay the groundwork for further explorations and research in the future by surveying and documenting the remote areas deep down the Pacific.

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