Short: Understanding the Oceans

In some ways more is known about the surface of Mars than our own planet. With over 70% of the Earth’s surface covered in ocean, more than 75% of this watery space has never been mapped. This daunting data hole prevents search and rescue teams from performing vital work, such as like searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines 370 aircraft. It also stands in the way of our scientific understanding of the largest biosphere on the planet. A crowdfunded group, the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) committee, have been working to change this, and if everything goes well, we should have a complete picture of the world’s oceans by 2030. Image The image shows areas of the global seafloor that are considered mapped within the GEBCO grid. The regions coloured grey depicts the coverage of mapped areas within the 2021 release of the GEBCO Grid and the areas coloured red show the additional coverage included in the 2022 release. Credit: The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Global Center (GDACC) on behalf of Seabed 2030 Host Jon Baston-Pitt, Fugro Guests David Millar, Government Accounts Director – Americas, Fugro