New sea floor map for google earth january 13 2016 in late 2014 we had a look at a map of the ocean floor published by the scripps institution of oceanography university of california san diego.
Map of the ocean floor.
Importantly the maps would also ensure a better understanding of climate change since floor features including canyons and underwater volcanoes influence phenomena such as the vertical mixing of ocean water and ocean currents which act as conveyor belts of warm and cold water thus influencing the weather and climate.
Researchers today published the most detailed map of the ocean floor ever produced.
It is the only intergovernmental organisation with a mandate to map the entire ocean floor.
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.
Typically finely wrought ocean maps have been the result of extensive sonar.
Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet.
This is expensive and time consuming so sonar maps are mostly only made of places where ships spend the most time.
To map some 140 million square miles of sea floor the seabed 2030 project is currently recruiting around 100 ships that will circumscribe the globe for 13 years.
Data collected by satellites and remote sensing instruments were used to created a model at least twice as.
The latest status of its seabed 2030 project was announced to coincide with world hydrography day.
Topographic maps of the sea floor.
The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.
This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.