![]() These maps revolutionized seafloor imaging by providing a uniform, if low-resolution, view of the global seafloor. In the 1980s, satellite measurements helped fill in gaps, and another Lamont scientist, William Haxby, used these to compose the first “gravity field” map of the oceans. Lamont oceanographers Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen created the first comprehensive map of the world’s ocean beds, published in 1977. Lamont scientists have long been at the forefront of ocean-floor mapping. ![]() The seamounts are due west of El Salvador, at about 9.55 degrees N, 104 degrees W. The Lamont Seamounts are an example of the view from the seafloor synthesized by a team of oceanographers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. institutions, many foreign institutions hold troves of mapping data, which the team hopes to tap in the future. While most of the data assembled so far has come from U.S. It is ongoing, with the team continually adding new data. ![]() The ocean synthesis was begun in the early 2000s, with funding from the National Science Foundation. This same database feeds the recently released EarthObserver, Lamont’s global scientific mapping application for iPads and other mobile devices. To create the new maps, the team combined multi-beam sonar measurements into Lamont-Doherty’s Global Multi-Resolution Topography system. The imagery is the result of hundreds of cruises by scientific research vessels from many institutions traveling roughly 3 million miles across the oceans over the past two decades. “While we can map the surface of planets from spacecraft in a single mission, to obtain comparable detail of the hidden seascape requires visiting every spot with a ship.” (The 100-meter resolution in the new views is still generally less than the resolution on land, which goes to centimeters in some areas.) “In spite of the importance of the oceans for life on earth, the landscape beneath the sea is hidden in darkness and poorly mapped,” said William Ryan, an oceanographer at Lamont-Doherty who, along with Suzanne Carbotte and their team, created the system used to generate the imagery. In addition to providing intriguing imagery, the more accurate data reflected in the pictures is helping scientists understand the risks posed by some features, including earthquake zones. (Photo: Lamont-Doherty/GMRT)Ī second virtual tour, Deep Sea Ridge 2000, fueled by the new synthesis and produced by Lamont-Doherty scientist Vicki Ferrini and colleagues, takes visitors to see seafloor hydrothermal vents spewing lava and hot liquids, and to learn about the creatures that thrive there. The floor of the fracture is over 5 kilometers deep and the mountain peaks are 1.5 kilometers below the surface. The Kane Fracture Zone cuts across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The new, sharper focus is currently available for about 5 percent of the oceans-even at that, an area larger than North America-and provides spectacular scenery, including the huge Hudson Canyon off New York City, the Wini Seamount near Hawaii, and the sharp-edged 10,000-foot-high Mendocino Ridge off the U.S Pacific Coast. The ocean floors contain dramatic landscapes-volcanic ridges, lofty peaks, wide plains and deep valleys-but most areas remain mapped in less detail than the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. Developed by oceanographers at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory from scientific data collected on research cruises, the new feature tightens resolution in covered areas from the former 1-kilometer grids to just 100 meters. Starting today, armchair explorers will be able to view parts of the deep ocean floors in far greater detail than ever before, thanks to a new synthesis of seafloor topography released through Google Earth. The new 2011 Seafloor Tour will take you to interesting features found on the ocean floor, like the Mendocino Ridge, where the Juan de Fuca plate slides toward western North America.
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