![]() That means that when water from the Greenland Sea meets the Irminger Sea water, it slides right down through it to the bottom of the ocean. Since the molecules in the cold water are less active and take up less space than in warm water, they are packed together more tightly, making colder water denser. The Denmark Strait cataract is formed by the difference in temperature between the ultra-cold Arctic waters of the Greenland Sea meeting those of the slightly warmer Irminger Sea. It's easy to picture an ocean as a giant bathtub that sloshes around with the tides, but seawater is actually very dynamic waters of different temperatures and salinities - and, therefore, densities - are always interacting on large and small scales. ![]() The most astonishing thing about the Denmark Strait cataract isn't, perhaps, how it got to be so tall and mighty, but that an undersea waterfall can exist at all. If you ever visit an island called the Republic of Mauritius, swimming too far out to sea could make this terrifying tall-tale a reality. For instance, Angel Falls in Venezuela, the tallest waterfall above sea level, is three times shorter than the Denmark Strait cataract, and Niagara Falls carries 2,000 times less water, even during peak flows. It plunges 11,500 feet (3,505 meters) straight down from the Greenland Sea into the Irminger Sea, carrying around 175 million cubic feet (5 million cubic meters) of water per second - dwarfing any giant waterfall you could find on land. Located in the little slice of ocean between Greenland and Iceland, the gigantic waterfall known as the Denmark Strait cataract is 100 miles (160 kilometers) wide. There are no rainbows at all, in fact, and that's because the Denmark Strait cataract is entirely underwater. Of course, if the water fall is too large the weight of the water hurt you, can knock you to the ground, smash you into rocks, push you into the water, damage. Mauritius, where this unusual underwater waterfall exists, was created about 8 million years ago, and is the second-largest of the Mascarene Islands. ![]() There's no overlook, there will be no oooh-ing and ahhh-ing over the rainbows in the cataract spray. Sorry, you can't go visit the world's tallest waterfall. A map in the upper right of the graphic shows the location of Denmark Strait, between Greenland and Iceland. This infographic illustrates how a large underwater cataract (waterfall) naturally forms underneath the waves within the Denmark Strait. Waves crash in the Denmark Strait below the body of water's surface lies the world's largest waterfall. The worlds largest waterfall is in the ocean.
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