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The Bermuda Triangle has long been associated with the mysterious disappearance of ships and boats that dare to sail through it. But scientists now believe they could have "solved" it after discovering "forces" hidden beneath the ocean's surface.

Researchers have long theorised that a combination of environmental conditions and methane gases released from the water has caused problems to the buoyancy of vessels passing through the area. It is a far cry from the more outlandish theories that have included alien invasions or time warps.

Scientist Ronald Knapper told What If Science that there could have been a methane field in the area. Although he believes it may now have passed, which is why there have been a drop in disappearances in recent decades.

The most famous disappearance over the Bermuda Triangle, which stretches between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico, was on December 5, 1945. It saw five US Navy training aircraft, known as Flight 19, disappear while flying over the region.

Pilots reported problems with their navigation systems and malfunctioning compasses before losing contact. A rescue plane was deployed but also vanished, no wreckage was ever found.

The reports continued to stack up until 1970 with cargo ships, fishing boats and private planes all disappearing. Knapper however says everything changed in the 1980s when commercial ships began passing through the area daily.

It coincided with the increase of satellite tracking and GPS navigation. "Skeptics argue this proves the mystery never existed. Better reporting, they say, exposed exaggerations and coincidences," Knapper writes.

He says one theory has been that the Triangle was never actually a single phenomenon. Instead sudden storms, rogue waves and fast-moving squalls caused problems for vessels that lacked modern forecasting.

The researcher argues that radar technology was new at the height of the mystery and has now matured to a level that any strange effects in the area have now disappeared.

Although he says a theory gaining traction recently is the methane field in the area. Knapper writes: "Not aliens or portals-but rare combinations of environmental forces. Methane gas releases from the ocean floor, for example, have been proposed as a hazard capable of disrupting buoyancy and engines.

"While evidence remains debated, such releases are known to occur in other regions. If an active field once existed beneath the Triangle and later quieted, it could explain a rise and fall in incidents."

The scientist concludes that advancements in overall technology have also lessened the Triangle's mystery over time. He says it "flourished in an era without instant verification," where news travelled slowly.

Now though every flight is tracked and mayday signals are instant, meaning "mystery has less room to breathe". He says that any magnetic field in the area could have "drifted" and that ocean floors, which could have emitted the methane, move meaning any dangerous convergence could have drifted elsewhere.