More detailed maps exist today of the surface of Mars than of the floor of Earth’s own oceans. An international collaboration of hydrographers, oceanographers, and marine agencies is working to close that gap, with a goal of mapping the entire seafloor in high resolution by the end of the decade.
Why the ocean floor remains a blank spot
Satellites can map land and even estimate rough seafloor shape from gravity measurements, but true high-resolution mapping requires sonar readings taken from ships or autonomous vehicles moving slowly across the water. It’s a slow, expensive process — one reason the deep ocean has remained one of the least-explored places on the planet.
The project relies heavily on crowdsourcing data from commercial vessels, research expeditions, and naval surveys that already cross the oceans for other purposes, combining their sonar readings into a single, continuously updated map.
We can’t protect or understand what we haven’t mapped.
What better maps enable
- More accurate tsunami and storm surge modeling
- Better placement of undersea cables and pipelines
- Improved understanding of ocean currents and climate patterns
- Identification of previously unknown marine habitats
The road ahead
As of the project’s most recent progress report, roughly a quarter of the seafloor has been mapped to modern resolution standards, up sharply from where the effort started. Organizers say the remaining work will depend heavily on lower-cost autonomous mapping vehicles, which are being deployed at a growing number of research stations worldwide.
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