Become a Deep Sea Explorer with New Google Ocean Maps
Jules Verne has taken countless armchair explorers to the depths of the sea via their imaginations. Now, allows anyone to dive deep down and explore the ocean floor. Zoom along the 10,000-foot-high Mendocino Ridge off the U.S. West Coast, visit the enormous Hudson Canyon off New York City, or witness magma explosions from the underwater Mata volcano in the South Pacific.
Developed by oceanographers at Columbia University's , the new feature incorporates data from numerous agencies and research institutes to provide virtual access to volcanic ridges, towering peaks, wide plains, and deep valleys on the five percent of the seafloor. While five percent may not sound like a whole lot, it's an area larger than North America.
鈥淚n spite of the importance of the oceans for life on earth, the landscape beneath the sea is hidden in darkness and poorly mapped,鈥 said William Ryan, an oceanographer at Lamont-Doherty who, along with Suzanne Carbotte and their team, created the system used to generate the imagery. 鈥淲hile 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.鈥
Studying the seafloor allows researchers to map earthquake faults and track underwater landslides鈥攚hich can have major consequences on land if they trigger tsunamis, like the one that earlier this year. It also helps scientists learn more about 鈥攖he vast majority of which occur far beneath the surface (check out the video above, which includes footage of an underwater volcanic eruption, and other awesome things found at the bottom of the sea, like the enormous "Godzilla" and bacteria blizzards). On your journey, you'll encounter more than 1,000 photos and videos. !
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