what is bermuda triangle

The Bermuda Triangle has a reputation for being an area where ships and airplanes dissappear, often under mysterious circumstances. This reputation came to public awareness in the 1950s and became a household name in the 1970s, mostly due to "The Bermuda Triangle", a bestselling book written by Charles Berlitz.Various explanations for the apparent high number of dissapperances have been put forward, ranging from the mundane to the hyper-fantastic.Skeptics contend that this region has a comparable rate of maritime and aerial incidents as any other similar sized region of the ocean. They point out that Lloyd's of London, a world-reknowned insurer of maritime vessels, does not charge a higher insurance premium for ships that regularly traverse the triangle.Scientific considerations for an increased dissaperance rate take into acount that this region experiences severe tropical storms and is the source of many hurricanes. These storms create an increased danger to both ship and air traffic.Rougue waves have also been put forward as a possible cause. These rare waves can reach heights of as much as 100 feet (30 meters), easily swamping most ships. Rouge waves, however, would have no effect on air travel.A third scientific explanation is methane hydrates. Methane deposits on the ocean floor may release bursts of methane gas that reduces the density of the water it permeates. Since ships rely on displacement to stay afloat, a reduction of density in the water would cause a ship to immediately sink. As the methane leaves the water and rises into the air, it would reduce the density of the air as well, thus reducing lift on aircraft, causing them to descend rapidly. In addition, the methane would change the air mixture taken into the engines of the aircraft, causing the engine to stall. While these events have not been witnessed in nature, they have been proven in lab experiments.More exotic explanations for the Bermuda Triangle include it being an area of magnetic disturbance, temporal (or time) holes, the location of the lost city of Atlantis, or extra-terrestrial abduction.