Scientists map Antarctic ocean, reveal never-before-seen visuals

Scientists have made a bathymetric chart mapping the ocean floor of Antarctica’s encircling southern ocean covering 48 million sq km.

Knowing the depth and shape of the seafloor is fundamental for understanding ocean circulation, tides, tsunami forecasting, fishing resources, sediment transport, environmental change, underwater geo-hazards, infrastructure construction and maintenance, cable and pipeline routing and much more.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica is a region that is key to a range of climatic and oceanographic processes with worldwide effects and is characterised by high biological productivity and biodiversity. Since 2013, the International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) has represented the most comprehensive compilation of bathymetry for the Southern Ocean south of 60°S. Recently, the IBCSO Project has combined its efforts with the Nippon Foundation -GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project supporting the goal of mapping the world's oceans by 2030.

Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project between the Nippon Foundation, a Japanese non-profit philanthropic organisation and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans(GEBCO), an international group of mapping experts. It aims to bring together all available bathymetric data to produce the definitive map of the world ocean floor by 2030 and make it available to all.

The project was launched at the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference in June 2017 and is aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Goal #14 to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.

Despite many years of effort, less than 20 per cent of the world’s ocean seafloor has been mapped. A coordinated international effort is needed to bring together all existing data sets and to identify areas for future surveys - to help 'map the gaps'.

The Southern Ocean is a major component of the coupled ocean-atmosphere climate system and includes the largest ocean current on earth, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). It is furthermore the most important ocean region for the uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and heat from the atmosphere and cold and dense bottom waters form on the shelves surrounding Antarctica.

Interactions of the Southern Ocean with Antarctic glaciers and ice shelves are the main drivers of present, past, and future Antarctic ice sheet mass balance and thus global sea-level change. Biologically, the Southern Ocean is a high-productivity area with high biodiversity. The Southern Ocean is also one of the most remote and harshest areas of the world with extensive sea-ice cover and year-round severe weather conditions. Despite its remoteness and hostility, human activities are increasingly extending into this distant part of the world, examples including research, fisheries, and tourism.

Precise bathymetric information as e.g. provided by the International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) and the Digital Bathymetric Model of the Drake Passage (DBM-BATDRAKE) is paramount to better understand the Southern Ocean and its processes as well as for human activities and conservation and management measures. IBCSO aims to provide the most comprehensive compilation of bathymetric data for this region.

[ with inputs fromInternational Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean andNippon Foundation -GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project]

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.