Google drowns Atlantis discovery hopes

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 23 Feb 2009 at 10:46

Google has poured cold water on reports that its Ocean software had located the fabled city of Atlantis.

Speculation that Atlantis had been found surfaced over the weekend when a criss-cross of lines about the size of Wales was spotted near the Canary Islands.

Experts were wheeled out to confirm that the site fits the details of Plato's account of the city, which he claimed sank beneath the sea in 9000BC after a doomed attempt to invade Athens.

Unfortunately, Google dismissed the reports, revealing the lines were nothing more than the trails left by boats collecting data on the seabed.

"What users are seeing is an artefact of the data collection process. Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor," says a statement from the company.

"The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data. The fact there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world's oceans."

The search continues.