Did you know that the world’s largest waterfall is under the water? 

Waterfalls are one of the most fascinating natural wonders that we are blessed with. They are created when rivers or streams flow from soft rock to hard rock. Imagine the Niagara Falls for a minute. Millions of people visit it every year, just to soak in its beauty and grandeur. But have you ever seen or heard of a waterfall that hides beneath the water? Finding it difficult? Well, so did we! But it turns out that, not only is there a waterfall below the ocean, it is the world’s largest as well. Surprisingly, it doesn’t have a name yet though geographers have recently been calling it Denmark Strait Cataract. The name is not official as of now. All we know is so far is that it lies beneath the famous Denmark Strait. Yes, the one that separates the Nordic countries Iceland and Greenland. For starters, a strait is a narrow waterbody that connects two larger bodies of water while a cataract is a waterfall with very high volumes of water rushing over a steep place. 

All the way to the world’s largest waterfall 
As already mentioned, this waterfall lies beneath the Denmark Strait, more specifically in the little oceanic part at the southern tip of Greenland. There is an array of cataracts located almost 2000 feet under the surface of the strait. When they plunge, they reach a depth of 11500 feet and a width of 100 miles. Maybe for this reason, geographers have come up with the name Denmark Strait Cataract. Interestingly, the largest land waterfall, that is the Angel Falls in Venezuela is only 979 metres, meaning the Denmark Strait Cataract is almost three times larger. Likewise, the Niagara carries 200 times less water than the Denmark Strait Cataract. 

Under the water story 
Are you wondering how can there be a waterfall under the water? We will tell you how. In the Denmark Strait, the southward-flowing frigid water from the Nordic or Greenland Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean) meets the warm water of the adjoining Irminger’s Sea (part of the Atlantic Ocean) that flows northward. Now, the ultra-cold water is way denser than the warm water. Why? The molecules in cold water are less active, take up less space, and are more tightly bound. Due to the massive difference in temperature, the dense and cold water slides through the warm water and sinks below it. When this water flows further, it takes a huge drop in the ocean floor. This leads to the formation of an underwater waterfall, thanks to the massive current, with a downward flow of 123 to 175 million cubic feet per second.  

Strange are the ways of the nature, isn’t it?