Bathymetry

"Bathymetry is the measurement of the depth of water in oceans, rivers, or lakes. Bathymetric maps look a lot like topographic maps, which use lines to show the shape and elevation of land features. On topographic maps, the lines connect points of equal elevation. On bathymetric maps, they connect points of equal depth. A circular shape with increasingly smaller circles inside of it can indicate an ocean trench. It can also indicate a seamount, or underwater mountain" (National Geographic, 2022).

Sources

National Geographic (2022). Bathymetry. In: Resource Libaray. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/bathymetry

Related Terms
Water depth

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Article

Mind the mapping gap between the ocean and coastal zones

Mind the mapping gap between the ocean and coastal zones

Bathymetry map

Do you know that about 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, yet it remains unmapped? As NASA oceanographer Dr. Gene Feldman said,

“We have better maps of the surface of Mars and the moon than we do of the bottom of the ocean.”

But can all these vast blue portions of the universe be explored and mapped like the Mars, which is 54.6 million kilometers away from us, but have nearly 90% of its surface mapped? "Well, that's the million-dollar question, isn't it?"

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Stakeholder

Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut der Technischen Universität München