Why All Ocean Maps Are Wrong*

*The ocean is deeper than you think! And our maps of the deep sea are surprisingly bad. We know less about the ocean floor than we do the surface of Mars.

Luckily, new tech is helping us change that...

If you want to know how we’re mapping the deep sea, watch our longer Huge If True episode!

If you'd like to support optimistic tech stories, subscribe for more.

#shorts #tech #ocean #deepocean #deepsea #stem #science

[DB-meol]

I work in an ocean awareness organisation and I am always blown away by how amazing our oceans are. 🌊🦀🐳

[kurosakiclipsk]

That "Water Sucks" was so personal.

[Fokkas]

I gotta say, you're one of the best scientific journalists I've ever seen. Keep up the great work.

[karnaghose]

Natalie Portman's long lost sister

[NoneOfTheAbove]

I am studying geology and I can second this.

[timholgate]

Hi there! Hydrographic Surveyor/Marine Geophysicist here.

Couple of things I'd like to clear up:

1.5km resolution is the resolution we have in the centre of the Pacific. The important areas, and by that I mean continental shelves, are often at 20cm resolution due to the combined work of Oil and Gas, Renewables, Researchers and cable routers.

Further more, the only way we really scan the seabed is by Multibeam Echosounders (MBES for short). Now mathematically, data quality from these reduce with distance as they fire a wedge perpendicular to the vessel. The deeper you go, the further that swath has to go. The beams scatter and hence you end up with a handful of soundings per 100m. Hence why the only way to increase resolution is to decrease the swath width, and collect at a slower rate, or drop the altitude of the MBES using ROV, AUV, which move slower than surface vessels

[triptidimri-ocue]

Thank you Natalie Portman for the update. ❤

[gamesingreen]

I’ve seen enough monster movies to know this won’t end well…

[TheSketchDino]

Multiple leviathans detected, Are you sure what your doing is worth it?

[grnarsch]

Would also be interesting to know how many caves are mapped

[emil]

In Nordic countries in Scandinavia, this is not the case. There is a company called Olex that sells seafloor map data. This is very popular, especially on fishing vessels that require relatively accurate seafloor maps. The way it works is that they gather data from sonars on all boats where it is installed and compile this data. We have had this on one of our boats for at least 10 years. However, it recently came to light that this has been very unfortunate as this data is something that Russia has had unrestricted access to, resulting in highly detailed maps of the seafloor around, for example, Norway and military sea installations.

[cameroneridan]

Born too early to explore deep space and too late to explore the high seas, but right in time to explore the _low_ seas :D

[JamesKaufman-sm]

Cleo, love your content, love your delivery and you are lovely!!

[FreejackVesa]

My brother is a hydrographer / marine biologist / sonar expert for NOAA. This is all he does, map the ocean floor.

[anotherfacelessname]

If we just drained the oceans and turned them into oil fields and super-highways, we'd have a much easier time mapping them. Just a thought

[greg.peepeeface]

that's why the real aliens hide under the oceans

[marshall]

"we will be taking pictures of the ocean floor in 16 times the detail, and four times the size"

[soap.]

NASA’s original plan was to explore the ocean, but they stopped because they found something terrifying down there

[lastsinner]

I cannot not even comment on her without sounding like a simp. Beautiful beyond heaven and smart enough to get us there. I absolutely love her channel

[Coast-nx]

It's always better when we don't know things. Anything we find down there will be exploited and destroyed before we ever know how important it was to leave it alone.