Water from Morgan Maassen on Vimeo.
More than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans; they support nearly 50 percent of all the planet’s species. And yet for us land-bound bipeds, their depths remain mysterious, fearsome, and untouched: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that “more than 95 percent of the underwater world remains unexplored.” While greenhouse gases snatch the global warming headlines, the oceans play a crucial role in our understanding of climate change, having absorbed more than 90 percent of the Earth’s extra heat since 1955. This video, uploaded to Vimeo by photographer and filmmaker Morgan Maassen from Santa Barbara, Calif., taps into that awesome, elemental power of the unknown, lifting it way above the run-of-the-mill surfie video into something that left me slack-jawed (and missing summer). Enjoy.
