71% of the Earth’s surface is occupied by oceans, the depths of which are difficult to probe. The ocean floors are therefore still very poorly mapped and for good reason: precise bathymetric data are most often acquired by boat and we understand the difficulty in surveying all of the oceans in this way.
The interest of satellite altimetry
However, there are global maps of the ocean floor, which are based on bathymetric data obtained byelevationelevation satellite. This technique uses the ability of satellites to accurately measure the height of the ocean surface, which reflects the bottom topography. Of course, although this technique has the advantage of mapping very large areas, the precision remains lower than that of bathymetric data acquired by boat.
The implementation orbitorbit of the new NASA satellite called Swot (Surface Water and Ocean Topography), in December 2022, however, made it possible to obtain a new global map of the ocean floor with much greater precision than before.
A more precise map to study ocean dynamics
Published in the journal Sciencethe results reveal a much finer topography, with a resolutionresolution lateral of eight kilometers. Many details of the ocean floor, and in particular new small abyssal mountains, have been mapped.
These new data will make it possible to study the movementsmovements of the tectonic platestectonic platesbut also ocean currents.
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