Sunday, February 11, 2024

The ocean is deeper than you think. We need better maps.


 
Our maps of the ocean are surprisingly bad!
On Google Maps it looks like we know so much… but we know less about the ocean floor than we do the surface of Mars.

And that’s a big problem, because we are using the ocean all the time: We’re laying internet cables across it, we fight wars in it, we search it during a crisis - like the imploded OceanGate Titan submersible or the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
 
 
71% of the surface of the Earth is water! And yet we have a surprisingly limited view of what’s below it.
But that’s also understandable.
Because cartographically speaking, water sucks.
For Mars or Earth’s surface, we can take pictures.
But light doesn’t get to the ocean floor, so we need other ways to see it.

The good news is, we’re developing that tech right now, and an international group called Seabed 2030 is working to piece together a better map.
There is a terrifying, incredible, alien world on our own planet, and we’re FINALLY using technology to see it more clearly.
 
In this episode of Huge If True, I dive deep - with help from my friend and fellow video journalist @johnnyharris - to show you how we’re mapping the ocean, the surprising things we’ve discovered in the depths, and why this new technology could be… huge if true :) 
 
Chapters:  
00:00 How bad are our ocean maps?  
01:40 How deep is the ocean?  
03:05 What is the deepest part of the ocean? 
04:04 The craziest method to map the ocean  
06:20 How does sonar work?  
07:31 What did the first ocean maps look like?  
09:30 How do we map the ocean now?  
10:30 What is Seabed 2030?  
11:40 How do we use underwater robots?  
12:27 Concerns with mapping the deep ocean  
13:11 Why deep ocean mapping is huge if true
 
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