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                              April 24, 1990

                         The Ocean's Sound Barrier

    A mysterious carpet,  about 300 feet thick, believed to consist of
    a cornucopeia of sea-life, comes  out  only  during  the  daylight
    hours to become the sea's "false bottom."

    This "false bottom"  was  discovered  by Navy ships  making  depth
    soundings during the war.  The soundings are derived from the time
    it takes for  echoes to be reflected to the surface from the ocean
    floor.  The returning  echoes are  then  recorded  on  instruments
    which give a very precise map, within inches, of  the  depth  at a
    specific location.

    By using certain  wavelengths  of sound, echoes were received from
    depths between 1,000 and 1,500 feet.   The  odd  thing is that the
    ocean bottom in the locations being scanned were  known  to be two
    to three miles deep.

    The most plausible explanation was that there were vast quantities
    of floating or  swimming  objects,  constituting  almost  a  solid
    surface at the depths from which the echoes came.

    The false bottom ONLY begins at daylight and exists throughout the
    day to disappear at twilight.

    The false bottom carpet covers all  oceans,  even  the  Antarctic.
    Echoes taken over  miles  of  ocean floor show the  carpet  to  be
    practically continuous over thousands of square miles.

    General agreement among  Naval  navigators  is  that the carpet is
    made up of hordes of sea creatures.

    However, they have not proved observable by any known technique.

    The wavelengths of the sound waves which echo back give an idea of
    the size and abundance of the masses  which  seem  to  make up the
    carpet.  Calculations show from ten to twenty of  these  organisms
    in each cubic meter of water.

    The creatures or  whatever  makes  up  the carpet echoes ONLY long
    sound waves, while high frequency  sounds  pass  through them like
    light through glass and is bounced back from the sea bottom.

    The constituents of the carpet apparently cannot stand light since
    at dawn they  sink from within about 100 feet of  the  surface  to
    levels below the penetration of the light.

    The false bottom  rises  at  sunset at a measured rate of forty to
    fifty fe t a  minute.  No swimming  fish  could  rise  so  rapidly
    through the decreasing pressure without suffering the "bends".
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    A wide spectrum  of  sound wavelengths has been used in attempting
    to analyze the phenomenon.  Sophisticated  modern  equipment using
    hydrophones has recorded   echoes  from  individual   objects   at
    distances of a few feet.

    These new observations  show  the  carpet to consist of a bunch of
    "somethings" ranging from a foot to eighteen inches.  Too large to
    be a squid and far too large to be shrimp.

    Based on such data, the carpet  is  believed  to  consist  of deep
    water fish.  If this is true, then there might be  a  food  source
    beyond man's wildest dreams in our oceans.

    Navy divers have  swum  directly through the false bottom at night
    when it was within less than 200 feet of the surface.

    Direct observation shows enormous  numbers  of euphasids and other
    SMALL organisms, but very few fish.

    The texture of  the  carpet is believed to change  radically  from
    night (loosely packed)  to  day  (tightly  packed)  based  on  the
    dispersal of the organisms over  wide  areas  of surface waters as
    determined by the photic or thermal energies present.

    The entire phenomenon  is  quite  mysterious and  brings  up  many
    different theories.  Water  temperatures  could cause a laminar or
    turbulent flow, some form of water  structuring  which  would form
    temporary colloids, maybe   a   point   of  anomaly   (4   degrees
    centigrade) which might  constitute  a  world  brain consisting of
    structured water, or other interesting possibilities.

    The Navy divers saw almost nothing  which could account for such a
    wide and relatively unbroken echo pattern.

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    The material for  this  article  appeared in a book  called,  "The
    Strangest Things in the World" by Thomas R. Henry and published in
    1958.
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