Satellites Reveal Hidden Features At the Bottom of Earth's Seas

sciencehabit writes Oceanographers have a saying: Scientists know more about the surface of Mars than they do about the landscape at the bottom of our oceans. But that may soon change. Using data from satellites that measure variations in Earth's gravitational field, researchers have found a new and more accurate way to map the sea floor. The improved resolution has already allowed them to identify previously hidden features—including thousands of extinct volcanoes more than 1000 meters tall—as well as piece together some lingering uncertainties in Earth's ancient history.

Comments

Re:So did they find Atlantis?

[pr0t0]

Of course they aren't going to find it. It's all the way over in the Pegasus galaxy.

Re:Dive! Dive! Dive!

[camperdave]

Considering that 20,000 leagues down would take you all the way through the Earth, and then out the other side about another seven or eight planetary diameters out into space, or more than twice the altitude of geostationary satellites, I think it's safe to say that the 20,000 leagues refers to a horizontal distance travelled rather than a depth. In those terms it would be 2.7 times around the Earth, if travelling in a straight line. If you're wandering along the coast, like Magellan and Drake did, then 20,000 leagues would be once around the planet.