Touring the ocean bottom – Visualization of our planet without water features
The ocean is the most prominent feature on Earth, and of immeasurable importance to life on the planet. But what would it look like if all of the water was drained out of it?
Though ships have mapped only a small portion of the ocean floor, satellites are used to generate incredibly details maps of the bottom of the ocean. By sensing the minute gravitational changes that pull, push, and bulge the ocean surface, the bottom's shape can be inferred from space. These bathymetric maps reveal the incredibly dynamic terrain of the ocean. Where available, ship-based measurements are included to provide even higher detail.
This visualization tours the ocean floor from the gentle continental slopes to the deepest trenches using data analyzed and archived by NOAA. It is actually the same data that Google has incorporated into Google Earth and Ocean.
Credit: NOAA Visualizations
Featured image: YouTube video screenshot
Wonderful. Expected sea floor may finally reality.
Those Azores!! And how big is Iceland!!
The earthquake originating in the sea floor rift precisely identified off Brazil!!