[HardStarboard]

>>> never had the resources to use the satellite data systematically." <<<

Someone please explain how "satellite data" can do anything but tell you where you are on the face of the earth - and to locate on that same face "known" obstructions.

Sounds to me like someone is expecting GPS to peer under the ocean to see sea-mounts. Not happening.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Right!

I think the mid atlantic rift waS MAPPED at great effort....using special equipment (suspended at great depths ) and some kind of sonar...

[Robert A Cook PE]

They are discussing using satellite radars (usually from Pu-239 powered satellite radars, solar=powered satellites rarely have enough power to generate the pulses) to penetrate the oceans surface and reveal the bottom. Large scale images, as in the bottom of this thread, DON'T reveal small individual isolated mountains, but are good at showing mountain ranges and very large underwater features such as rift valleys and the mid-Atlantic ridge.

Expensive and time consuming to do it in enough detail. General big