Using satellite data, a new topographic map of the ocean's floor created by scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography outlines areas of the ocean we have never seen before.
This new map outlines a variety of previously undiscovered features deep beneath the ocean's surface, including thousands of mountains, undersea volcanoes and ridges long buried under sediment.
Scientists created the map by using data from the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 satellite, as well as NASA's Jason-1 satellite. Both satellites worked separately to measure the gravity of the ocean's floors. Varying gravity pulls show scientists where specific topographical features, mountains and ridges, exist on the seafloor.
Along with the gravity measurements, scientists used previous data and other maps, as well as remote sensing, to create a map more detailed than anything we've ever seen before. Scientists completed the last such map 20 years ago. This new map, though, is at least twice as more accurate than that one.
Most interestingly, tectonic plates beneath sediment under the ocean's surface are now mapped out. The map points out a large ridge beneath the Gulf of Mexico, as well as another under the South Atlantic. These ridges are where two continents, South America and Africa, separated over 150 million years ago. Scientists will use the maps for learning more about the geology of the seafloor, as well as learn more about tectonics in Earth's early history that created the continents we know today.
"One of the most important uses of this new marine gravity field will be to improve the estimates of seafloor depth in the 80 percent of the oceans that remains uncharted or is buried beneath thick sediment," says the authors of the study.
Google Earth will use this new data for its new ocean maps, allowing users to see the shape of the ocean's floors. The map will help the military in navigating the ocean more safely, whether by ship or submarine. For commercial industries, this map could pinpoint where to find oil. Finally, the map will help scientists decide which parts of the ocean to explore next.
"The team has developed and proved a powerful new tool for high-resolution exploration of regional seafloor structure and geophysical processes," says Don Rice, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Ocean Sciences. "This capability will allow us to revisit unsolved questions and to pinpoint where to focus future exploratory work."
