14 DAY TRIAL // Here's a fun fact most people are probably unaware of and that might make for a pretty cool conversation starter: as it turns out, an actual image of the Mariana Trench is included in the latest “Godzilla” movie.
The image is the one above. It is the creation of researcher James Gardner with the University of New Hampshire in the United States and, in “Godzilla,” it appears within a quick-cut montage sequence, Live Science explains.
As detailed on the website for the University of New Hampshire, this image that Warner Bros. licensed and included in the movie dates back to 2010, when James Gardner and colleagues mapped the seafloor near Guam and the Mariana Islands.
Talking to the press, James Garner has explained that, unlike other images of the Mariana Trench that have until now been put together by scientists, his and his colleagues' is not just clear, but also surprisingly accurate.
Hence, he was quite pleased that Warner Bros. expressed its interest in including this image in a movie that was sure to draw in the crowds, James Garner goes on to explain.
“I was very surprised, and then pleased, that one of our images was to appear in the new movie,” the University of New Hampshire researchers says in a statement.
Furthermore, “The advanced technology we used during the Mariana Trench survey allowed us to map the seafloor at a much higher resolution than previous efforts, providing a horizontal spacing of one depth value every 50 meters [164 feet].”
“The best maps of this area prior to our mapping have a horizontal spacing of depth values separated by 1,850 meters [6,069 feet], and the images appear fuzzy when looked at in detail. Our mapping provides a very detailed, clear look at the seafloor.”
Scientists explain that the Mariana Trench is the result of the collision of two massive tectonic plates. It sits in the western Pacific Ocean, and it is considered the deepest part of our planet's oceans. Thus, its Challenger Deep, a small valley in its floor, reaches a depth of 10,984 meters (36,028 feet).
Pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is estimated to be one of 8 tons per square inch (just imagine 50 jumbo jets piled on top of a really unlucky fellow), but, by the looks of it, Godzilla has no trouble hanging around in this inhospitable environment.
Although the University of New Hampshire has licensed images obtained during the 2010 survey of the Mariana Trench to several organizations until now, the one above is the first to be included in a major motion picture.