In other words it is the underwater equivalent to topography.
What is ocean floor mapping.
Bathymetric measurements are conducted with various methods from sonar and lidar techniques to buoys and satellite altimetry.
In fact scientists have mapped more of the surface of the moon mars and venus than the surface of our ocean.
Plate tectonics and the ocean floor bathymetry the shape of the ocean floor is largely a result of a process called plate tectonics.
The latest status of its seabed 2030 project was announced to coincide with world hydrography day.
It is a global initiative between japan s non profit nippon foundation and the general bathymetric chart of the oceans gebco which is the only intergovernmental organisation to map the entire.
By conducting a multibeam sonar survey similar to a medical ultrasound scientists are able to image the sea bottom.
The depth was then measured by the amount of line that had payed out.
The nippon foundation gebco seabed 2030 project has mapped one fifth of the world s ocean floor.
It is the only intergovernmental organisation with a mandate to map the entire ocean floor.
Bob embley geophysicist noaa pacific marine environmental laboratory.
The first primitive maps of the sea floor came from soundings which involved lowering weighted lines into the water and noting when the tension on the line slackened.
Typically finely wrought ocean maps have been the result of extensive sonar.
This is expensive and time consuming so sonar maps are mostly only made of places where ships spend the most time.
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.
A the bathymetry is being continuously improved by icebreaker.
Ocean floor mapping has two or three essential aspects a bathymetry depth and b magnetometry and sometimes c gravimetry.
Huge trenches walls flatlands and seamounts fill the seascape and have a direct impact on the water bodies above them.