Map Of The Ocean Floor Features

Northwest passage northern sea route.

Map of the ocean floor features.

The under water topography maps have been developed by the study of ocean floor topography. Map showing the geographic extent of the arctic ocean as a darker blue tint. Among the new features they re now able to detect sandwell says are thousands of previously unknown seamounts between 1000 and 2000 meters tall dotting the ocean floor. Ocean floor topography involves the study of ocean bottom features including the outer continental shelf continental slopes and ocean waves desktops.

Continental shelf 300 feet continental slope 300 10 000 feet abyssal plain 10 000 feet abyssal hill 3 000 feet up from the abyssal plain seamount 6 000 feet. Typically finely wrought ocean maps have been the result of extensive sonar. An international scientific team recently published a new map of the ocean floor based on earth s gravity field and it is a particularly useful tool. Topographic maps of the sea floor.

Detailed depth contours provide the size shape and distribution of underwater features. This is expensive and time consuming so sonar maps are mostly only made of places where ships spend the most time. The map serves as a tool for performing scientific engineering marine geophysical and environmental studies that are required in the development of energy and marine resources. The following features are shown at example depths to scale though each feature has a considerable range at which it may occur.

The northwest passage and northern sea route are two important seasonal waterways that connect the atlantic and pacific oceans. In recent years the polar ice pack has thinned allowing for increased navigation through these routes and raising the possibility of future.