A marine gravity map of the north atlantic ocean red dots show locations of earthquakes with magnitude 5 5 and they highlight the present day location of the seafloor spreading ridges and.
Map of our ocean floor.
Why map the ocean floor.
An international scientific team recently published a new map of the ocean floor based on earth s gravity field and it is a particularly useful tool.
Bathymetry the shape of the ocean floor is largely a result of a process called plate tectonics the outer rocky layer of the earth includes about a dozen large sections called tectonic plates that are arranged like a spherical jig saw puzzle floating on top of the earth s hot flowing mantle.
Topographic maps of the sea floor.
Currently the topography of the ocean floor is less well known than the surfaces of mercury venus mars and the moon.
And yet knowing the depth and shape of the seabed is fundamental to understanding our world and will benefit mankind.
Detailed depth contours provide the size shape and distribution of underwater features.
Plate tectonics and the ocean floor.
An international effort to map the entire ocean floor in detail by 2030 is underway using multiple ships led by the nippon foundation and the general bathymetric chart of the oceans.
The problem with that approach is that our oceans are vast and ships are small meaning only a tiny percentage of the ocean floor between 5 15 percent nasa estimates was mapped.
The maps were created through computer analysis and modeling of new satellite data from esa s cryosat 2 and from the nasa cnes jason 1 as well as older data from missions flown in the 1980s and 90s.
A global bathymetric map that is a map of the ocean s floor would certainly offer a better understanding of our blue planet but it also might plunge us into a realm once reserved for.
We ve come a long way in ocean exploration since the days of the hms challenger launched in 1858.