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New Estimates Say Earth's Oceans Smaller Than Once Believed

Velcroman1 writes with this snippet from Fox News: "Using lead weights and depth sounders, scientists have made surprisingly accurate estimates of the ocean's depths in the past. Now, with satellites and radar, researchers have pinned down a more accurate answer to that age-old query: How deep is the ocean? And how big? As long ago as 1888, John Murray dangled lead weights from a rope off a ship to calculate the ocean's volume — the product of area and mean ocean depth. Using satellite data, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute set out to more accurately answer that question — and found out that it's 320 million cubic miles. And despite miles-deep abysses like the Mariana Trench, the ocean's mean depth is just 2.29 miles, thanks to the varied and bumpy ocean floor."

3 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. And soon ... by jamesl · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    And soon it's average depth will be 2.29 miles plus a foot or two, according to the IPCC.

  2. Re:I estimate by The+Hatchet · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I don't know guys, these is coming from FOX news. Reminds me of the kind of "the universe isn't really 18 billion years old, more like 5000" or "the earth is really 4 billion years old, its more like 5000" or "the universe isn't THAT big, its really only us in the center with a bunch of crystal spheres" or "the earth isn't that big, if you try to sail around it, you will just fall off the edge" or ...

    Maybe FOX got it from a real news source, but I don't trust FOX.

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  3. Re:How about some metric figures? by camperdave · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Go look up the definition of an inch and a pound, then get back to me. Here are some starter links for you:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_customary_units
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendenhall_Order

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