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A seafloor map captured by NASA. Bathymetry (/ b ə ˈ θ ɪ m ə t r i /; from Ancient Greek βαθύς (bathús) 'deep' and μέτρον (métron) 'measure') [1] [2] is the study of underwater depth of ocean floors (seabed topography), lake floors, or river floors.
Ocean surface topography or sea surface topography, also called ocean dynamic topography, are highs and lows on the ocean surface, similar to the hills and valleys of Earth's land surface depicted on a topographic map. These variations are expressed in terms of average sea surface height (SSH) relative to Earth's geoid. [1]
The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, which aims to motivate a number of collaborators to create a full map of the ocean floor, was launched in 2016. [5] There are four Seabed 2030 centres, which coordinate mapping activities in different regions, gather and compile the bathymetric information, and partner with existing mapping ...
Thus the topographic map's mountains have the greatest values while the bathymetric chart's greatest depths have the greatest values. Simply put, the bathymetric chart is intended to show the land if overlying waters were removed in exactly the same manner as the topographic map.
The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of the ocean is very deep, where the seabed is known as the abyssal plain. Seafloor spreading creates ...
Oceanic trenches are long, narrow topographic depressions of the seabed. They are the deepest parts of the ocean floor, and they define one of the most important natural boundaries on the Earth's solid surface: the one between two lithospheric plates. Trenches are a distinctive morphological feature of plate boundaries. Trenches are found in ...
Depth contour lines show the shape of underwater relief. Coloured areas of the sea emphasise shallow water and dangerous underwater obstructions. Depths are measured from the chart datum, which is related to the local sea level. The chart datum varies according to the standard used by each national Hydrographic Office.
Objectives of marine geophysics include determination of the depth and features of the seafloor, the seismic structure and earthquakes in the ocean basins, the mapping of gravity and magnetic anomalies over the basins and margins, the determination of heat flow through the seafloor, and electrical properties of the ocean crust and Earth's mantle.