Posted on 03/12/2017 9:24:01 AM PDT by MtnClimber
A remote part of the Indian Ocean has become, by chance, one of the best-mapped parts of the underwater world.
The ocean is vast, deep, and unexplored.
When Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared three years ago this week, the search brought the ocean’s vastness into sharp relief. This is how deep and dark it is three miles down. This is how unlikely you are to spot a downed airliner in 120,000 square nautical miles of open ocean. This is how much we know about the ocean floor—less than we know about the surface of Mars.
As the search dragged on and sonar swept the Indian Ocean, data also piled up. The surveyors found volcanoes and valleys and scars on the sea floor from tectonic plates pulling apart. This arc of ocean, delineated by calculations based on the plane’s last satellite pings, has by chance become one of the most thoroughly mapped regions of the ocean floor.
Scientists with Geoscience Australia, which provided technical advice and support for the search, recently published some of their findings. All of the underwater survey data will be released later this year.
The search area for MH370 is a remote part of the Indian Ocean a couple thousand miles west of Australia. “Geoscience Australia didn’t have any specific scientific interest in the area,” Kim Picard, one of the agency’s scientists, said in an email. But it was obvious that a high-resolution map of 100,000 square miles of ocean floor would have considerable scientific value in addition to aiding in the search for MH370.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
A very interesting article.
The Atlantic is a lefty publication but they still occasionally post interesting articles on nonpolitical topics.
“This is how much we know about the ocean floor—less than we know about the surface of Mars. “
Only an idiot would write such hyperbole.
We have Mars mapped. We don’t have a complete map of the ocean floor.
It’s a true statement.
Dunno why you say it’s hyperbole.
Mapping isn’t the only thing about “knowing”. We know far more about our oceans. We also do have them mapped. US subs operate with those charts, classified as those charts may be. We also have about 17,000 SOSUS sensors and nearly as many Buoys. The oceans are far from unknown. There have been tens of thousands of oceanic research operations throughout the oceans. We’ve laid tens of thousands of miles of undersea cables. We’ve created amazing 3-D mappings of the entire ocean floor.
Ignorance of all that is what leads to the hyperbole that we don’t know our oceans.
The dumbing down of America continues.
Yabut MARS!
We need to get rid of all that water, think of how much new farmland we’d have!
Yeah but AGW increases sea levels just like melting ice cubes increse the water in a glass!
Dammit! Ok, fine, you win! ...because...MARS!
Dammit! Ok, fine, you win! ...because...MARS!
Loved that on adult swim. RIP capt murphy
We don’t know much about the deep ocean. There are many species that haven’t even been identified.
“We don’t know much about the deep ocean. There are many species that haven’t even been identified.”
Yet, there are thousands that have.
Now THAT’S a proud Bunny!
We know Mars is dead. Every inch of its surface is mapped.
The ocean. Not so much.
The whole “why are we exploring space when we don’t know all about the oceans” cliche makes my eyes bleed. While it might take a pile of energy to get out of the well, it’s a helluva lot easier to keep 14 psi in than 5 or 10 thousand out...
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