Complete mapping of nearly a quarter of the ocean floor on Earth

The Seabed 2030 project, which collects data from governments, companies and research institutes, aims to map 100% of the ocean floor by 2030.

23.4% of the ocean floor has been mapped by modern standards. Photo: Nippon Foundation/Seabed 2030/BBC

About 23.4% of the seabed on Earth has been mapped thanks to the international Seabed 2030 project, according to the United Nations Ocean Conference, which took place in Lisbon, Portugal from June 27 to July 1. The project relies heavily on voluntary contributions of ocean floor topographic data from governments, companies, and academia, and is part of a larger United Nations project called The Ocean Decade.

Seabed 2030 hopes to map 100% of the ocean floor by 2030. The researchers say this is a possible goal thanks to advances in technology and available data collection. In the past year alone, Seabed 2030 has added measurement data of some 9.8 million square kilometers (equivalent to the size of Europe) mainly through new publicly available archives rather than new mapping efforts.

Scientists believe that gathering more data on the topography of the ocean floor will help people better understand climate change and ocean conservation efforts. Ocean floor maps also help detect tsunamis as well as other natural disasters.

"A complete map of the ocean floor is the missing tool. It will enable us to address some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, including climate change and marine pollution. , help us protect the future of the planet," said Mitsuyuki Unno, executive director of The Nippon Foundation, Japan.

Much of the data for Seabed 2030 is already available. The project team relies heavily on donations from governments and companies, but some are afraid to go public with the archives entirely for fear of exposing national or commercial secrets.

"They really don't need to worry. One of the messages we're trying to convey is that we don't require high resolution data. High resolution is so good we can work with it. such data, but a lower resolution is also perfectly acceptable Depth values ​​in an area the size of a European football field, 100 m x 100 m or equivalent, will not reveal state secrets or commercial," said Jamie McMichael-Phillips, director of Seabed 2030.

All data that Seabed 2030 is collecting will be publicly available online on the GEBCO global network. Prior to Seabed 2030, very little direct measurement of the ocean floor was available to the public. Most of the topographic measurements of the ocean floor are estimated using satellite altimeter data, thus providing only a rough idea of ​​the bottom shape.

Some scientists believe that efforts to locate the crash site of flight MH370 (Malaysia Airlines) will be better informed thanks to new and more accurate methods of mapping the ocean floor.