Don't Believe This Myth About The Spot Where The Atlantic And Pacific Ocean Meet

You've likely seen the viral videos online: Two vast bodies of water, distinctly different in color, flowing side by side without mixing, as if divided by a glass wall reaching all the way to the ocean floor. These videos tend to claim that you're witnessing a peculiar and natural phenomenon at Cape Horn in South America, where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans meet. The oceans' differing densities and currents, the video claims, prevent them from mixing, maintaining their separation and producing the appearance of a kind of "border" as seen from above the water.

It's a captivating sight that has garnered millions of views across social media platforms. The problem is that it's completely untrue. And this widely circulated misconception perfectly illustrates how scientific misinformation can spread rapidly online, particularly when it involves striking imagery that seems to defy our understanding of how the world works.

But the truth about how these mighty oceans interact at South America's southernmost point is far more interesting than the viral myth suggests. And the real story behind that famous footage? It actually captures an entirely different natural phenomenon thousands of miles from South America.

At Cape Horn, a raw landscape at the end of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago in Chile, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet in a dramatic display of nature's power — just not in the way social media would have you believe. This treacherous stretch of sea, known as the Drake Passage, can be a nightmare for sailors. Off the Cape's coast, the ocean floor rises thousands of feet in just a few miles, regularly spawning huge waves in the area.

Combined with steady winds from the West and the eastward-flowing Antarctic Circumpolar ocean current, the two bodies of water constantly churn and blend together. So thoroughly do the oceans mix here that distinguishing between Atlantic and Pacific waters becomes impossible, a far cry from forming a clear line of demarcation.

With all of this dynamic movement (alongside Tierra del Fuego's rocky coastline), the area is a perfect storm of danger for any ship. Cape Horn is regarded as one of the harshest stretches of water in the world, so much so that it's a well-known ship graveyard; more than 800 vessels and 10,000 lives have been lost to its waters over the centuries, hardly a setting for two oceans to respect a delicate boundary.

The footage that sparked this persistent myth shows an entirely different natural phenomenon, one that's equally as fascinating: the Fraser River Plume in the Strait of Georgia near Vancouver, Canada. Here, the brownish freshwater from the Fraser River meets the blue-green waters of the strait, creating a stark visual boundary.

River plumes are natural occurrences where river water, laden with sediment and differing in salinity, flows into marine waters. While these waters eventually do mix, the process remains visible for however long the sediment is actively flowing downstream. It's a remarkable demonstration of river-ocean dynamics (and the differences between ocean and fresh water) that, unfortunately, has nothing to do with the meeting of the Earth's greatest oceans.

Instances like these are a great reminder of how quickly and extensively misinformation can spread online. So, the next time you see an image or a video showing you something amazing about the natural world that seems almost too captivating to be true, follow your instincts and check for credible sources. Science is all about testing hypotheses, so stay curious.