Ocean Mapping News

science20 days ago•16 min saved

Ocean Floor Mapping Closer to Mars, Yet Vast Depths Remain Untouched

Seabed 2030 has lifted global ocean-floor mapping from 6% to about 28.7% since 2017, but roughly 71% of the seabed remains unmapped due to the physics, cost, and logistics of deep-sea surveying. Unlike Mars, which is mapped from orbit, the ocean floor requires costly multibeam sonar on ships and is hampered by under-ice conditions, depth, and access. Advances such as autonomous vessels and machine learning could accelerate progress, but meeting a 100% target by 2030 is unlikely; nonetheless, the improved bathymetry underpins better climate models, submarine-cable routing, tsunami prediction, and environmental baselining for deep-sea mining, while remaining uneven and most challenging in deep, remote regions.

via Space Daily|

#bathymetry #geopolitics #mars-comparison

science1 year ago•2 min saved

Satellites Unveil Detailed Seafloor Maps

NASA's SWOT satellite, launched in December 2022, has mapped Earth's ocean floors with unprecedented detail, revealing underwater hills, volcanoes, and tectonic boundaries previously undetectable by older satellites. This data, collected in just one year, surpasses 30 years of previous satellite and ship data, offering new insights into ocean currents, nutrient transport, and Earth's geologic history. The satellite's findings could significantly advance scientific understanding of tectonic theories and oceanic processes.

via Livescience.com|

#nasa #ocean-mapping #science

science-and-technology3 years ago•1 min saved

Unprecedented Ocean Mission Unveils Groundbreaking Discovery with Global Implications

Saildrone, a California-based technology startup, has completed a historic, crewless mission to map over 17,000 square miles of the previously unknown ocean floor around Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and off the California coast. The mission was undertaken by the Saildrone Surveyor, which took 52 days to map the area around the Aleutian Islands before embarking upon its second mission off the California coast. The missions, which mapped “high priority” areas across “key regions” in high resolution, yielded unexpected discoveries, such as “a previously unknown seamount standing approximately 1,000 meters [3,200 feet] high.”

via Yahoo! Voices|

#aleutian-islands #boem #noaa

science-and-technology3 years ago•1 min saved

Unprecedented Ocean Mission Unveils Groundbreaking Discoveries.

Saildrone, a California-based technology startup, has completed a historic, crewless mission to map over 17,000 square miles of the previously unknown ocean floor around Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and off the California coast. The mission was undertaken by the Saildrone Surveyor, which took 52 days to map the area around the Aleutian Islands before embarking upon its second mission off the California coast. The missions, which mapped “high priority” areas across “key regions” in high resolution, yielded unexpected discoveries, such as “a previously unknown seamount standing approximately 1,000 meters [3,200 feet] high.”

via Yahoo News|

#aleutian-islands #boem #noaa