Editing Bermuda Triangle (section)

===Natural explanations===
====Compass variations====
[[Compass]] issues are frequently cited in accounts of Triangle incidents. While some have theorized that unusual local magnetic anomalies may exist in the area,<ref name="USNAVY">{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq8-1.htm |title=Bermuda Triangle |publisher=US Navy|access-date=26 May 2009|archive-date=2 August 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020802035846/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq8-1.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> such anomalies have not been found. Compasses have natural [[magnetic variation]]s in relation to the [[Poles of astronomical bodies#Magnetic poles|magnetic poles]], a fact that navigators have known for centuries. [[magnetic north pole|Magnetic (compass) north]] and [[true north|geographic (true) north]] are exactly the same only for a small number of places – for example, {{as of|2000|lc=y}}, in the United States, only those places on a line running from [[Wisconsin]] to the [[Gulf of Mexico]].<ref>{{cite web |title=<nowiki>National Geomagnetism Program &#124; Charts &#124; North America &#124; Declination</nowiki> |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |url=http://geomag.usgs.gov/charts/IGRF2000.dec.na.pdf|access-date=28 February 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527143024/http://geomag.usgs.gov/charts/IGRF2000.dec.na.pdf|archive-date=27 May 2010}}</ref> But the public may not be as informed, and think there is something mysterious about a compass "changing" across an area as large as the Triangle, which it naturally will.<ref name="Kusche, 1975"/>

====Gulf Stream====
[[File:Gulfstream1.jpg|thumb|upright|False-color image of the Gulf Stream flowing north through the western Atlantic Ocean (NASA)]]

The [[Gulf Stream]] ([[Florida Current]]) is a major surface current, primarily driven by [[thermohaline circulation]] that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and then flows through the [[Straits of Florida]] into the North Atlantic. In essence, it is a river within an ocean, and, like a river, it can and does carry floating objects.<ref name="Winer, 1974, pp. 145–146">{{harvnb|Winer|1974|pp=145–146}}</ref> It has a maximum surface velocity of about {{cvt|2|m/s}}.<ref>{{cite web |last=Phillips |first=Pamela |title=The Gulf Stream |url=http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/student/phillips/ |publisher=USNA/Johns Hopkins|access-date=2 August 2007}}</ref> A small plane making a [[water landing]] or a boat having engine trouble can be carried away from its reported position by the current.<ref name="Berlitz, p. 77">{{harvnb|ref=Berlitz, 1974|Berlitz|1974|p=77}}</ref>

====Human error====
One of the most cited explanations in official inquiries as to the loss of any aircraft or vessel is [[human error]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/bermuda-triangle-mystery-disappearance/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106185325/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/bermuda-triangle-mystery-disappearance/ |url-access=subscription |archive-date=6 November 2018 |title=Bermuda Triangle: Behind the Intrigue |work=[[National Geographic News]] |access-date=13 January 2023 |date=15 December 2003 |last=Mayell |first=Hillary |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]]}}</ref> Human stubbornness may have caused businessman Harvey Conover to lose his sailing yacht, ''Revonoc'', as he sailed into the teeth of a storm south of Florida on 1 January 1958.<ref>{{cite book |last=Scott |first=Captain Thomas A. |title=Histories & Mysteries: The Shipwrecks of Key Largo |publisher=Best Publishing Company |year=1994 |isbn=0941332330 |edition=1st |pages=124}}</ref>

====Violent weather====
[[File:Atlantic hurricane tracks.jpg|thumb|Tracks of all known Atlantic hurricanes between 1851 and 2019. Many storms pass through the Bermuda Triangle.]]

Hurricanes are powerful storms which form in tropical waters and have historically cost thousands of lives and caused billions of dollars in damage. The sinking of [[Francisco de Bobadilla]]'s Spanish fleet in 1502 was the first recorded instance of a destructive hurricane.<ref name="Winer, 1974, pp. 25–28">{{Harvnb|Winer|1974|pages=25–28}}</ref> These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle. Many Atlantic hurricanes pass through the Triangle as they recurve off the Eastern Seaboard, and, before the advent of [[weather satellite]]s, ships often had little to no warning of a hurricane's approach.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2LNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT23 |title=Taming the Atlantic: The History of Man's Battle With the World's Toughest Ocean |last=Pike |first=Dan |publisher=[[Pen and Sword Books]] |date=2017|access-date=26 September 2023 |pages=23–24 |isbn=978-1-52670-085-8}}</ref>

A powerful [[microburst|downdraft of cold air]] was suspected to be a cause in the sinking of ''[[Pride of Baltimore]]'' on 14 May 1986. The crew of the sunken vessel noted the wind suddenly shifted and increased velocity from {{cvt|32|kph}} to {{cvt|97|-|145|kph}}. A National Hurricane Center satellite specialist, James Lushine, stated "during very unstable weather conditions the downburst of cold air from aloft can hit the surface like a bomb, exploding outward like a giant squall line of wind and water."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=h8wlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1085,6357771 |title=''Downdraft likely sank clipper'', The Miami News, May 23, 1986, p. 6A|access-date=1 October 2014}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

====Methane hydrates====
{{Further|Methane clathrate}}
[[File:Gas hydrates 1996.svg|thumb|Worldwide distribution of confirmed or inferred offshore gas hydrate-bearing sediments, 1996.<br/>Source: [[United States Geological Survey]]]]

An explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of large fields of [[methane]] hydrates (a form of natural gas) on the [[continental shelves]].<ref name="Energy Citations Database (ECD) – Document #616279">{{cite journal |osti=616279 |title=Office of Scientific & Technical Information, OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy, DOE |journal=Petroleum Engineer International |volume=71 |issue=3 |publisher=OTSI |date=March 1998 |last1=Gruy |first1=H. J.}}</ref> Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water,<ref name="Monash, 2003">{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3226787 |title=Could methane bubbles sink ships? |date=21 October 2003 |publisher=Monash Univ.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Dowling |first=Jason |date=23 October 2003 |title=Bermuda Triangle mystery solved? It's a load of gas |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/22/1066631498889.html |work=The Age}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Aym |first=Terrence |date=6 August 2010 |title=How Brilliant Computer Scientists Solved the Bermuda Triangle Mystery |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3226787 |publisher=Salem-News.com}}</ref> and any wreckage would be deposited on the ocean floor or rapidly dispersed by the Gulf Stream. It has been hypothesized that periodic methane [[eruption]]s (sometimes called "[[mud volcano]]es") may produce regions of frothy water that are no longer capable of providing adequate [[buoyancy]] for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without warning.<ref name="Joseph,">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zz3jCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 |title=Investigating Seafloors and Oceans: From Mud Volcanoes to Giant Squid |last=Antony |first=Joseph |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |date=2017|access-date=26 September 2023 |page=87 |isbn=978-0-12-809357-3}}</ref>

Publications by the [[USGS]] describe large stores of undersea hydrates worldwide, including the [[Blake Ridge]] area, off the coast of the southeastern United States.<ref name="WoodsHole papers">{{cite web |last1=Paull |first1=C.K. |last2=W.P. |first2=D. |year=1981 |title=Appearance and distribution of the gas hydrate reflection in the Blake Ridge region, offshore southeastern United States |url=https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/usgspubs.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218231421/http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/usgspubs.html |archive-date=18 February 2012 |work=Gas Hydrates at the USGS |publisher=Woods Hole |id=MF-1252.}}</ref> However, according to the USGS, no large releases of gas hydrates are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years.<ref name="WoodsHole Bermuda">{{cite web |url=https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/bermuda.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121023070855/http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/bermuda.html| archive-date = 23 October 2012 |title=Bermuda Triangle |work=Gas Hydrates at the USGS |publisher=Woods Hole}}</ref>