The Largest Waterfall in the World is Located in Europe

By
Mike Z
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If you were wondering where you can find the largest waterfall in the world, the answer may surprise you. It’s actually located in Europe, in the ocean beneath the Denmark Strait which separates Iceland and Greenland. 

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Buried far underneath the water's surface in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland hides the largest waterfall known to man. Underwater waterfalls, known as cascades—or, when they're really big, cataracts—exist when cold and warm water meet. The molecules in cold water don't move around much, so they stay close together and make the water denser than warm water, whose molecules tend to buzz around and leave more space between them. That makes cold water sink straight down through warm water, creating a steady and consistent flow. The water coming from the Greenland Sea is Arctic cold, literally. When it enters the warmer water in the Irminger Sea, it drops 11,500 feet straight down, flowing at 175 million cubic feet per second. That absolutely annihilates any records on the surface—Angel Falls is only 3,212 feet high; Inga Falls flows just shy of a million cubic feet per second. Sure, it is slower—cold water falls through air much faster than it can sink through warm water—and it is, again, underwater, but does that make it any less of a waterfall? . . . . . . #DenmarkStrait #Denmark #cataract #waterfall#waterfalls #amazingplanet #travel #ocean #water#nature #folkscenery #dream_spots #ocean_captures#moody_nature #moody_tones #scandinavia#destinationearthstars #denmark #danmark#copenhagen#baredanmark #wanderfolk #waveporn #waves#rsa_outdoors #visitdenmark #visitcopenhagen#rsa_rural #nature_brilliance #travelwithtyho

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The waterfalls beneath the oceans are often bigger than those that form on land. The one beneath Denmark Strait is exceptionally tall, although it can’t be seen from the surface. A series of cataracts that make up the waterfall start around 2,000 feet under the water surface and the total height of the waterfall is around 11,500 feet. Just to put things in perspective, the largest land waterfall in the world (Angel Falls in Venezuela) has a total height of 3,212 feet.

How’s it possible to have waterfalls in the ocean? It’s because the difference in density of cold and warm water. The cold water rushes to sink below the warm water and creates a flow. However, since this happens thousands of feet below the ocean surface, it’s basically unnoticeable without scientific equipment.

You can see more about it in the video below. “The world’s tallest waterfall is not actually Angel falls in  Venezuela. Technically, the largest known waterfall lies underwater, between Greenland and Iceland. The Denmark Strait cataract is more than three times the height of Angel Falls, dropping water a whopping 11,500 feet (3,505 m)”, reads the video description.