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Join us as we explore the dangers of being stranded in the open sea and what to do in such a situation. Discover the reasons why drinking ocean water is harmful and learn about the most mysterious sea in the world. Stay informed and stay safe on your next aquatic adventure.
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00:00Movies, TV series, and documentaries show us basically two situations.
00:05You get on a cruise ship and set out on a sea voyage, and during a storm, the vessel sinks.
00:10The good news is you survive.
00:12The bad news is you're in the middle of the sea.
00:15Another situation is that you're flying on an airplane.
00:18Something goes wrong, the engines catch fire, and the plane crashes into the ocean.
00:22Water surrounds you, and you don't know what to do.
00:25In both cases, you have a high chance that rescuers will save you.
00:29Flight controllers quickly find out that a plane has crashed into the sea.
00:33The same applies to large ships.
00:35Modern navigation and communication methods help rescuers find you quickly,
00:39especially if several people get in trouble.
00:41But let's imagine another, more terrible situation.
00:44Let's say you are at a seaside resort and tell your friends you want a snack.
00:47You go to the beach, buy some food, and decide to have lunch in the open sea.
00:51You rent a catamaran or a small boat, sail away from the shore, and fall asleep.
00:58Intense heat wakes you up, and you find yourself in the middle of the sea.
01:01You have no idea where the shore is and how long you've been here.
01:05Fortunately, you have a phone, but the bad news is that it's run out of battery.
01:09At this point, you may start to panic, and no matter how corny it sounds, don't do that.
01:35If you're in the water without a boat, but you have pants, then you can easily make a life jacket.
01:42Just tie two pant legs in a knot.
01:45After that, start splashing water with your hand, making air bubbles so that the resulting air gets inside the pants.
01:52After that, grab the upper part tightly to prevent the air from escaping and put them around your neck.
01:58Now you have an air vest.
01:59Okay, back to you, stuck on a boat in the sea.
02:02You don't have pants, only a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
02:06In addition, you have the remains of a burrito and some water in a bottle.
02:10Please don't drink it all at once.
02:12Try to make it last as long as possible.
02:14And it's also important not to drink seawater.
02:16Salt in it will cause even more intense thirst and trouble for your organism.
02:20You need to collect fresh water from the rain.
02:22Keep the bottle open and let your clothes get wet.
02:25The important point is that if you've swum in the sea wearing these clothes,
02:28they're covered with a thin layer of salt.
02:31So first, let your t-shirt get soaked by rainwater,
02:34then squeeze it to wash off all the salt,
02:36and only after that use your clothes to collect fresh liquid.
02:39Great, you have a whole bottle of fresh water.
02:41Take small sips several times daily,
02:44and you will have enough for a week.
02:46Now you need to get some fish.
02:47The good news is that sea creatures have approached you.
02:50The boat attracts the attention of marine life.
02:53They come to you out of curiosity or to use the boat as shelter.
02:56All you have to do now is catch lunch.
02:59If you're wearing shoes,
03:00use laces or tear off a piece of fabric from your clothes to make a small rope.
03:04Attach a piece of your burrito or any object to the rope's end and start fishing.
03:09Now you have food and water and nothing to worry about.
03:13Except for sharks.
03:15Bright colors or a drop of blood in the sea attract these hunters.
03:18You can scare them away by screaming and hitting your hands on the water.
03:22Make more noise.
03:23You will scare the fish,
03:24and they will understand that they have come across not a defenseless seal,
03:28but a very dangerous beast.
03:30A human.
03:31Yes.
03:31A fight with a shark sounds like something out of science fiction movies,
03:35but if you have nothing to lose,
03:37it's better to hit it on the nose than to swim away in panic.
03:42So you have fish, water, and authority.
03:44Life is good, but you're missing something.
03:46Oh yes, you need to get to dry land to survive.
03:50You can also attract the attention of an airplane or a passing ship.
03:54It's okay if you don't have a signal rocket.
03:56Your phone will help rescuers notice you.
03:59Use the mirror panel of your device to reflect sunlight and use the beam as a signal.
04:03There's a high probability that people on a ship passing by
04:06or even pilots of a plane flying by will see it.
04:09Keep your phone ready so as not to miss the rescuers.
04:12By the way, many boats have flares and life jackets with glowing signals under the seats.
04:16Use them at night, and people will see you from afar.
04:19Unfortunately, there's no such thing on your tourist boat,
04:22so the phone is your only way to indicate yourself.
04:25You need to start navigating the sea if you don't see anyone who could save you.
04:29If you don't see the shore, look at the water.
04:31It takes a lighter shade and shallow water,
04:34so if you see something like this next to the boat, move in that direction.
04:37Also, pay close attention to the direction of waves.
04:40They are heading towards the shore.
04:42Look at the sky.
04:44If you notice a group of gulls or other birds, follow them.
04:48Sooner or later, they will lead you to the beach.
04:50But the main landmark in the open sea is the sun.
04:54It always rises in the east and sets in the west.
04:57At noon, it shines strictly from the south if you're in the northern hemisphere.
05:01And if you're in the southern hemisphere,
05:03the sun is in the north in the middle of the day.
05:07Focusing on these signs will let you understand your location
05:09and move toward the shore.
05:12But what if you still have no idea which way to go?
05:16Try to imagine a morning in your hotel.
05:19Remember where the sun was and in what position you were relative to it.
05:23For example, if you were standing on the balcony
05:26and saw the sun rising to the right of your windows, you were facing south.
05:31Being in the open sea, imagine the direction of your hotel or house relative to the morning sun
05:36and then move in that direction.
05:38There are other signs pointing toward the shore.
05:41If the water becomes muddy, it means that somewhere nearby, a river flows into the sea.
05:48Move along this muddy water.
05:50The greenish tint under the clouds shows that they are above the land.
05:54So, you've already been drifting for several days and have finished all your water supplies.
05:59At some point, you hear the screams of seagulls.
06:02You look up and see where they are flying.
06:04You follow them and notice some muddy water.
06:07You're hungry, exhausted, and thirsty, but happy because you know the shore is ahead.
06:11As night falls, you notice city lights in the distance.
06:15By the morning, you reach the land and return to your hotel.
06:18There are many chances for salvation, but you can only use them if you observe one condition.
06:24Keep calm from the very beginning.
06:26People have survived after several weeks and even a year of being stuck in the open sea.
06:31Some were floating on a broken vessel, an inflatable boat, or a ship's wreckage.
06:36And every time, the desire for life, willpower, and faith help them handle it.
06:43When we look at our planet from space, one color dominates.
06:47That's why Earth is called the blue planet.
06:50About three quarters of our world is covered with water.
06:52But there's a catch.
06:5496.5% of this water is trapped in the oceans.
06:58And if you remember the first time your parents took you to the seaside,
07:01drinking that water is a big no-no.
07:03So, why is ocean water salty and undrinkable?
07:08There are two main reasons.
07:10The first is runoff water from the land.
07:12Rainwater is slightly acidic.
07:14Its pH factor is somewhere between 5 and 5.5.
07:18For comparison, pure water has a pH factor of 7,
07:22and the acid we find in batteries is a bit more than zero.
07:25Such rain erodes rocks when it falls on the ground.
07:28This releases ions, such as sodium and chloride.
07:31They end up in rivers and streams that eventually empty into the ocean.
07:35Living organisms remove some of the good ions, but the rest remains.
07:39Over time, this increases their concentration in the water.
07:44Oceans have their own salt powerhouse.
07:47Vents in the seafloor let out a hydrothermal fluid.
07:50Sounds complicated, but it's easy to understand.
07:53Water seeps down the gaps on the ocean floor.
07:56Then, the magma from the Earth's core heats up the water.
08:00There is a chemical reaction that frees seawater from oxygen.
08:04It picks up metals, such as iron and zinc.
08:06The vents on the seafloor release this metallic water back into the ocean.
08:12During an underwater volcanic eruption, the process speeds up.
08:16Salt and other minerals are directly released into Earth's oceans.
08:19Over time, salt accumulates on the seafloor and forms domes.
08:23These deposits occur under dry land as well.
08:26Some places on the globe have a large number of salt domes.
08:30The Gulf of Mexico is just one example.
08:33Beneath the waves, they affect the salinity of water.
08:36Other factors that determine how salty a body of water is include evaporation, air temperature, and precipitation.
08:42The general rule is that salinity is low near the equator and at the poles.
08:48All the oceans and seas in between are likely to have high salinity.
08:52Scientists estimate that dissolved salts make up 3.5% of the weight of the world's seawater.
09:00The waters that empty into the ocean, such as lakes and rivers, are fresh water.
09:05So, why is the seawater salty?
09:08To answer this question, we must travel into our planet's past.
09:12Researchers believe that primeval seas weren't as salty as they are today.
09:16But over time, rainfall washed away the rocks on land, transporting vast amounts of salt into the oceans.
09:23The process has been going on for more than 3.8 billion years.
09:28Today, some 4 billion tons of dissolved salts end up in Earth's oceans every year.
09:33The input and output of salt are fairly balanced.
09:36This means that seawater's salinity is stable.
09:40So, why can't we drink seawater?
09:43We already take salt into our bodies with food and drinks.
09:46It is called dietary salt.
09:48The World Health Organization recommends that humans consume no more than a teaspoon per person, per day.
09:54You shouldn't go over that amount if you want to keep your heart healthy.
09:58Centuries ago, salted beef and pork were the standard diet of seafarers.
10:02Meat was preserved using salt.
10:03At sea, fresh fruit and vegetables would go bad after just a couple of weeks.
10:08Before refrigeration, this was the only way to keep food fresh.
10:12Pickling was another option for storing food.
10:16The reason why we can't drink seawater is the salt content.
10:20The percentage of this mineral in our blood is nearly 4 times lower than the percentage of salt in seawater.
10:25Our body simply cannot process such a high amount of the substance.
10:29When we intake salt as part of our diet, we also drink liquids.
10:32When you serve pretzels, you probably have a glass of water or juice nearby.
10:37It helps quench the thirst and keep the salt levels in check.
10:40If we drink water straight from the ocean, the exact opposite happens.
10:44We just become thirstier.
10:46Our body absorbs both water and salt.
10:49They end up in our bloodstream.
10:51The organs responsible for getting all this salt out of our blood are the kidneys.
10:56But they need water to perform their duty.
10:59The higher the salt content, the more water they need to wash it away.
11:04When the process repeats itself several times over, you become dehydrated.
11:08This is the process of losing water from the body.
11:11And there's another catch.
11:13You start releasing more water than you take in when you drink seawater.
11:16The difference leaves you thirstier than you were when you started drinking seawater.
11:20Not a good idea to begin with.
11:23But some marine mammals, such as whales, seals, and even seagulls, can drink water from the sea, just like we
11:30drink tap water.
11:31The kidneys of these mammals are super efficient.
11:35Birds have special glands in their beaks that prevent salt from getting inside their bloodstream.
11:40Scientists found that the only land animal that can drink seawater is the camel.
11:45And if you ever wondered if fish drank seawater, they do.
11:49The gills and kidneys help them pump out the excess salt.
11:54For humans to drink ocean water, it first needs to go through desalinization.
11:58This is the process of removing salt from seawater.
12:01And there's a lot of it to take away.
12:04Estimates show that if we laid out all the sea salt across Earth's landmass, it would be higher than the
12:09Statue of Liberty.
12:10That's why desalinization on a global scale isn't realistic.
12:14Right now, less than half a percent of the drinking water we produce comes from seawater.
12:19And the demand for potable water is only going to increase.
12:23The current rate of consumption means that the demand for fresh water doubles every 20 years.
12:29The biggest issue with desalinization is the energy cost.
12:33It takes 10 times more energy than other water production methods.
12:37And the carbon footprint is huge.
12:40Large desalinization plants often need to have their own power stations.
12:44This is all because of the technology behind the process.
12:47Salt dissolves easily in water.
12:50It creates a strong chemical bond with water that is hard to break.
12:54Desalinization facilities mostly use reverse osmosis to achieve this.
12:58Large pumps exert pressure on seawater to push it through a filter.
13:02Its membrane is so fine that each pore is a fraction of the size of a human hair.
13:07The filter allows for water molecules to pass.
13:10Larger salt molecules remain trapped in the membrane.
13:13For every quarter of a gallon of fresh water the plant generates through desalinization,
13:18there is the same amount of water that is now twice as salty.
13:22Hardly the ideal method of water purification.
13:26The idea that humans could drink seawater isn't new.
13:29In the mid-4th century BCE, the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle considered using a series
13:35of filters to remove salt from water.
13:38Ships in the 16th century had small portable distilleries that could boil seawater.
13:43This was merely patchwork since exposing seawater to high temperatures doesn't make it drinkable.
13:48Such thermal processing only sterilizes the water.
13:51You would need to catch the steam that evaporates and wait for it to cool down before it's safe to
13:55drink.
13:56This is a complex and time-consuming method that is probably not worth the effort.
14:01Let us imagine for a second that we got rid of all the salt from the Earth's oceans.
14:06We would get an endless supply of drinking water.
14:09But at what cost?
14:11There are millions of animal and plant species that are adapted to salt water.
14:15These include plankton, the basis of all marine life.
14:19They wouldn't have enough time to adapt to the new conditions.
14:23Not all fish are like the salmon which thrives both in fresh and salt water.
14:27The sudden switch would also have a profound effect on our planet.
14:31Since fresh water is less dense, it would immediately cause the ice cap in the Arctic to sink by 4
14:37inches.
14:38This would trigger the largest tidal wave the planet has ever seen.
14:42Although the idea of desalinization on a global scale sounds good on paper,
14:46we should take it with a grain of salt.
14:50Hey now, get ready to dive into the Sea of Mysteries, also known as the Black Sea.
14:55It is the largest inland body of water in the world, bigger than the entire state of California.
15:01It has dozens of lost ships and some secret underwater tunnels.
15:06And some people believe it's an ancient quarry that was mined out in six stages.
15:12The Black Sea has distinct vertical layers that don't mix, with higher and lower salinity.
15:19The salty water comes from the Mediterranean, and fresh water comes from rivers.
15:24Ten of the largest rivers in Europe flow into the Black Sea.
15:27It receives more fresh water from the rivers and rainfall than it loses from evaporation.
15:33The extra water flows through the Bosporus into the Marmara Sea.
15:38There are two flows going through the Straits.
15:40The upper flow leaves the Black Sea and takes surface water out of it.
15:44The bottom flow carries salt water from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.
15:48That's why the upper layers of the Black Sea are less dense than its saltier lower layers.
15:54The oxygen that comes from the atmosphere and photosynthesis stays in the surface layers.
15:59Everything deeper than about 300 feet in the middle and up to 500 feet near the edge is not fit
16:06for life.
16:07Only certain bacteria can survive in these conditions.
16:11Although there's no air deep down in the Black Sea, the upper layer is home to around 750 species of
16:18photoplankton.
16:20Eggs and larvae, fish, and invertebrates chill in coastal regions.
16:25There are also 180 fish species in the Black Sea, and some of them are valuable, such as horse mackerel,
16:32spiny dogfish, and sprat.
16:34The water level in the Black Sea is always the same because there are no high or low tides.
16:40So the sea is always calm, quiet, and serene on the surface.
16:44But it has one surprise feature – an underwater river.
16:48It's a current of salty water flowing through the Bosporus Strait and along the seabed.
16:53This amazing discovery was made by scientists from the University of Leeds and was announced in 2010.
16:59It's the first undersea river of its kind ever found.
17:03The river forms because salty water from the Mediterranean Sea spills through the Bosporus Strait into the Black Sea,
17:10where the water is much less salty.
17:14The no-air zone of the sea is an ideal conservation chamber for what's hiding on its bottom.
17:20The Black Sea is like a treasure trove for shipwrecks, and we discovered it by accident.
17:26Some maritime archaeologists were studying sea levels to see how quickly the water levels rose after the last ice age.
17:33And they ran across over 40 previously unknown shipwrecks as a complete bonus.
17:40Researchers used two remotely operated vehicles to explore the seafloor and the wrecks.
17:45Thanks to it, we have a video and detailed 3D images of the ships that were stitched together from thousands
17:51of high-resolution photos.
17:53According to the New York Times, some of the standout discoveries among the 44 ships found include a medieval training
18:00vessel from the 13th or 14th century.
18:04Expedition members nicknamed another ship from the Ottoman Empire the Flower of the Black Sea for its beautiful petal carvings.
18:11The team also noticed unusual details on other ships, like coiled ropes, chisel marks, rudders, and other carvings.
18:19So far, they haven't announced any plans to excavate the shipwrecks.
18:23But the ships might be filled with historical treasures, like books, parchments, and documents.
18:29It's worth a try to rescue them.
18:32The most extraordinary discovery in the Black Sea is what archaeologists believe to be the world's oldest intact shipwreck.
18:39It has been lying undisturbed for over 2,400 years.
18:43This ancient Greek vessel, 75 feet long, was found with its mast, rudders, and rowing benches all still in place,
18:51over a mile beneath the surface.
18:54Researchers believe the ship was a trading vessel, like those depicted on ancient Greek pottery, such as the siren vase
19:01in the British Museum.
19:02This vase, or vase, dating from the same period, shows a vessel carrying Odysseus past the sirens.
19:09The team took a small piece for carbon dating, and the results confirmed it as the oldest intact shipwreck known
19:16to humankind.
19:16The fact that it's so elaborate and well-preserved deserves a standing ovation for shipbuilders of the ancient world.
19:24Without microbes, worms, or other creatures to eat away the wrecks, it's no wonder the ships are in almost perfect
19:30condition.
19:32If the Titanic had sunk in these waters, we would have found it in a much better state now, not
19:37being eaten by nasty underwater microorganisms.
19:42Now, there's an interesting theory called the Black Sea Deluge Hypothesis, which suggests a huge flood happened around 7,500
19:50years ago.
19:51Two geologists in the 1990s suggested that at the end of the last ice age, when the Earth's climate was
19:58heating up, ice sheets were melting and sea levels were rising.
20:02The Black Sea was a much smaller freshwater lake.
20:06It was separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a natural dam at the Bosphorus Strait.
20:11As global sea levels rose, the Mediterranean overflowed into the Black Sea Basin.
20:17They suggest the sea level rose by 6 inches every day, flooded coastal settlements, and changed the environment for good.
20:25Samples from the Black Sea floor show a sudden shift from freshwater to marine species around that time,
20:31which means there was a rapid influx of saltwater.
20:35Underwater surveys have also found what looked like the old shorelines and human-made structures.
20:41So, people were living in areas now submerged by the Black Sea.
20:46Plus, the timing of this flood matches up with known patterns of human migration into Europe, Asia, and Africa.
20:53They also say this flood could be the terrible flood from the story of Noah's Ark.
20:58Critics of the Deluge theory say the evidence isn't as straightforward as it seems.
21:03Some think the transition from freshwater to saltwater in the Black Sea was more gradual than one sudden flood.
21:10They're also debating if people left the settlements before they went underwater or as a result.
21:17An old chronicle that's been around for about a century says there were two underground tunnels starting in what is
21:24now Romania and Bulgaria
21:25and stretching all the way under the Black Sea to Turkey.
21:29Back in the day, peasants used these tunnels to move their flocks of sheep to the Ottoman Empire and countries
21:35on the Asia Minor Peninsula.
21:38Who built these tunnels and why they run under the sea is a complete mystery.
21:42At some point, the entrances to these tunnels were sealed off for national security and were under tight guard.
21:49The security forces knew all about these massive tunnels and kept them off-limits.
21:54In the 1980s, a group of people working on the Danube Black Sea Canal accidentally found another entrance to these
22:02mysterious tunnels.
22:03This one was in a cemetery in a town of Romania.
22:06Canal workers used it to regularly cross over into Bulgaria.
22:10One more cool thing about these two tunnels is that some people think they were built thousands of years ago.
22:16If you ever try to dig a tunnel under the sea, you'll know how tricky it is even now with
22:21all the tech we have.
22:23So if the tunnels are really that old, whoever built them was super advanced for their time.
22:29Now, there's an urban legend that says that the Black Sea has its own version of the Bermuda Triangle.
22:35Fishers describe some wild whirlpool that appears out of nowhere and drags entire flocks of bird, ships, and even small
22:43islands under the sea.
22:44And once, things got even wilder with a ship that vanished under weird conditions in 1944.
22:51It was during daylight, and some black fog with green flashing sparkles suddenly surrounded the vessel.
22:58No one has ever seen it since, and no one knows for sure if the story is true.
23:02But it sure adds a spooky touch to the mysteries of the Black Sea.
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