Poles Of Inaccessibility

A pole of inaccessibility marks a location that is the most challenging to reach owing to its remoteness from geographical features which could provide access. The term describes a geographic construct, not an actual physical phenomenon, and is of interest mostly to explorers.




More specifically: The oceanic pole of inaccessibility (48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W / 48.8767°S 123.3933°W / -48.8767; -123.3933 (Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility)), is the place in the ocean that is farthest from land. It lies in the South Pacific Ocean, 2,688 km (1,670 mi or 1,451 NM) from the nearest lands: Ducie Island (part of the Pitcairn Islands) in the north, Motu Nui (part of the Easter Islands) in the north-east, and Maher Island (near the larger Siple Island, off the coast of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica) in the south. Chatham Island lies farther west, and Southern Chile in the east. This location is also referred to as "Point Nemo".

It was around here that the Bloop (The Bloop is the name given to an ultra-low frequency and extremely powerful underwater sound detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration several times during the summer of 1997. The source of the sound remains unknown.) was recorded.

While that may not sound like anything of consequence, there are some theories (kind of crazy and far fetched, but interesting none the less) about what it could be. One of which is: An oft repeated claim is that it matches the audio profile of a living creature though this view is primarily held by cryptozoologists and is not popular among mainstream scientists. If the sound did come from an animal, it would reportedly have to be several times the size of the largest known animal on Earth, the Blue Whale.

Going even further out into the weirdness is the Bloop's connection to H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraft wrote that the Cthulhu lies dead and dreaming entombed in the city of R'lyeh, which is located at this specific point in the Pacific Ocean. The city of R'lyeh is described as being constructed of "vast angles and stone surfaces ... too great to belong to anything right and proper for this earth, and impious with horrible images and disturbing hieroglyphs." and possessing geometry that is "abnormal, non-Euclidean, and loathsomely redolent of spheres and dimensions apart from ours."

For more information about the Cthulhu look here.