Has The Ocean Floor Been Mapped

In fact the entire ocean floor has been mapped to a maximum resolution of approximately 5 km which means that all features on the ocean floor that are larger than 5 km across have been mapped.

Has the ocean floor been mapped.

Most of the seafloor that has been mapped thoroughly is close to shore. Scientists have mapped nearly a fifth of the earth s ocean floor taking a big step forward for everything from biological studies to internet access. Since the ocean occupies roughly 70 of the earth s surface this leaves approximately 65 of the earth excluding dry land unexplored. This graphic shows several ocean floor features on a scale from 0 35 000 feet below sea level.

For the ocean and coastal waters of the united states only about 35 percent has been mapped with modern methods. The initiative that seeks to galvanise the creation of a full map of the ocean floor says one fifth of this task has now been completed. 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. On two geophysical research cruises where our real target was some magnetometer info we nevertheless ran the sonar the whole time to make d.

The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur. Less than 0 05 percent of the ocean floor has been mapped to a level of detail useful for detecting items such as airplane wreckage or the spires of undersea volcanic vents by jon copley the. Noaa s office of ocean exploration and research is leading efforts to explore the ocean by supporting expeditions to investigate and document its unknown and little known regions. Almost a fifth of earth s ocean floor has been mapped us humans know more about the surface of the moon than we do earth s oceans but there s progress on closing that gap.

These expeditions are led by scientist explorers. The naval hydrographic office has maps of the ocean floor but a lot of the information is interpolated. Good ocean floor maps are a must. And of course actually to see the sea floor using cameras or our own eyes means getting even closer using remotely operated vehicles or manned submersibles.

However it is true that a full detailed mapping of the ocean floor is still missing.