
One-fifth of Earth's ocean floor is now mapped - pseudolus
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53119686
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ckastner
I'm always fascinated by that fact that despite the immense amount of
observations we have carried out on our planet (especially during the
satellite age), the ocean is still largely uncharted in detail.

The discovery of the Muirfield Seamount [1] is a great story. A cargo ship is
steaming through the Indian Ocean in waters charted at 5,000 meters depth, and
suddently it hits a previously unknown submarine mountain where the summit
extends to 16-18 meters below the sea. And apparently no one had discovered it
prior 1973, when that cargo ship hit it.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muirfield_Seamount](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muirfield_Seamount)

~~~
thombat
A similar case with a telling difference is Anchorite Rock in NZ's Hauraki
Gulf:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Anchorite_(P422)#Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Anchorite_\(P422\)#Service)

The difference being that this rock was already known by some local fishermen,
who had allegedly refrained from informing the Hydrography Office because it
was an excellent and little-known fishing ground. (jokingly) lacking patent
protection for fishing spots, they opted for a trade secret.

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emptybits
That leaves 56% of the Earth's surface unmapped. (!!)

Then add most (?) of the Earth's surface covered by ice, which seems at least
as hard to see/sample/explore as the ocean floor, and we're living on a planet
whose surface is nearly two thirds unknown!

Education and revelations to come!

~~~
arethuza
A mountain range the size of the Alps was found fairly recently (2009) buried
under the ice in Antarctica:

[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/feb/24/antarcti...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/feb/24/antarctica-
mountains)

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undershirt
I hope this better mapping is used for this:

> Seabed 2030 supports the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 14: 'to conserve
> and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable
> development.'[1]

and not for this:

> A new report by the Deep Sea Mining Campaign and MiningWatch Canada examines
> the potential risks of seabed mining operations… 16 international mining
> companies have contracts to explore the seabed for minerals within the
> Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and other
> companies have contracts to explore for nodules in the Indian Ocean and
> Western Pacific Ocean.

[1]
[https://seabed2030.gebco.net/faq/#q1](https://seabed2030.gebco.net/faq/#q1)

[2] [https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/deep-sea-mining-an-
environ...](https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/deep-sea-mining-an-
environmental-solution-or-impending-catastrophe/)

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sradman
These seem like vanity metrics: a gauge of how much we care about science and
exploration. The truth is that open ocean projects are slow and expensive.
High-effort / low-impact projects like fine granularity sea floor maps are
difficult to coordinate without financial backing from a national superpower
dedicated to data sharing. I suspect that what will change the trajectory is
new low cost technology that simplifies the process.

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Theodores
So we have had these nuclear submarines hiding in the oceans and listening for
other submarines for the last fifty years. And in this time we have not
charted out the bathymetry to a high degree of accuracy?

I don't believe the navies need centimetre resolution bathymetry however if
they had it then they would keep quiet about it much like how the National
Reconnaissance Office keep quiet about their spy satellites.

~~~
mkl
Given the purposes of military submarines, most of the ocean is not useful to
visit, and most of that "uninteresting" ocean is too deep for those submarines
to care about.

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sleavey
Seems like this technique is not precise enough to resolve the likes of MH370?
Otherwise at the rate they're going they could find the wreck soon.

~~~
1_player
If, like me, you needed a refresher about flight MH370, I wholeheartedly
recommend this video by LEMMiNO:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd2KEHvK-q8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd2KEHvK-q8)

~~~
dec0dedab0de
That was very interesting, I like that it mentioned conspiracy theories
without giving them credence.

I remember MH370 as the moment I realized that the ocean was wilderness. While
the search was underway, my coworkers and I spent quite a bit of time guessing
what could have happened. Quite a few of us assumed that the resources of the
various governments involved surely would recover something fairly quickly.
That is until we saw video of the Indian ocean, it was immediately clear that
if they did find anything it would be luck.

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divbzero
I know oceans and caves are relatively unexplored parts of Earth. Are there
any land surfaces that are similarly unexplored?

~~~
jl6
Depends what you mean by unexplored. Satellites have taken photographs of the
whole surface, but I imagine there are still pockets of remote places where no
human has set foot.

Inaccessible mountain slopes, central Antarctica, the land under glaciers,
central Sahara, deep jungle, far northern Canada and Russia.

Or, more interestingly, modern cities may still hide secrets. For example,
it’s well known that London is built on top of London. Digging anywhere
typically uncovers archaeological evidence of past generations. But there are
still some places which are off-limits to digging because they are under
historic buildings. For example, St Paul‘s cathedral very likely has
historical artefacts underneath it, but we will never know because you’d have
to demolish St Paul’s first to get at them.

~~~
the_cramer
Another possibility would be to use soundwaves, x-rays and other energetic
wave forms to locate and map stuff under such buildings. I wonder how far the
technology is in this area...

~~~
nitrogen
Ground-penetrating radar seems to be fairly well developed as well

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ggm
Not the bit with a crashed Malaysia Airlines jet, but quite a few places
nearby (in hundreds of kilometres away oceanic terms) maybe

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SenHeng
_Only_ 1/5?!

~~~
Kye
Earth is really big.

