The map serves as a tool for performing scientific engineering marine geophysical and environmental studies that are required in the development of energy and marine resources.
Map of our ocean floor.
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.
Plate tectonics and the ocean floor.
Why map the ocean floor.
To complete a map of earth s ocean floor you ve got to take to the high seas by boat.
Currently the topography of the ocean floor is less well known than the surfaces of mercury venus mars and the moon.
Topographic maps of the sea floor.
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.
And yet knowing the depth and shape of the seabed is fundamental to understanding our world and will benefit mankind.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Detailed depth contours provide the size shape and distribution of underwater features.