What do we do Reaxly Know the deep ocean? Whether the Earth’s ocean is an ecological paradise full of wild life or mysterious and stormy underworld that hides the mythological sea Samers, it is not necessary to say that the ourorance of the aqueous abyss has made our perception or what. But in terms of real account of what do Know the deep background, establishing certainty has been difficult to achieve.
“In scientific documents, some people [said] We have explored 5 percent or 10 percent or 1 percent [of the deep ocean]”There was no consensus,” says Katy Croff Bell, a marine scientist and founder of the Ocean Discovery League. Is it wonderful “Has anyone calculated really? “Bell adds. So I start doing only initial estimates approximately four or five years ago, and the numbers seemed ridiculously small: 0.001 percent [visited and explored] About almost [the past] 70 years. “
That could not be well, Bell remembers having thought. But follow -up investigations confirmed that their suspicions that humans only directly observe less than 0.001 percent of the world’s total area, a total area is almost the same as Rhode Island. That is a surprisingly small amount, consulting that we have now managed to obtain high -resolution images of practically all surfaces of the moon and Mars.
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As detailed in a study published on May 7 in Scientific advances“ Bell and his co -authors compared 43,681 records of submersible expeditions that were made by institutions in 14 countries and territories and each had reached a minimum of 200 meters (approximately 656 feet) under the waves. In addition to our generally limited understanding of the global seabed, Bell and his colleagues also found significant bias in the regions that had visual recognition. As expected, most of the direct observations of the deep sea occurred in the waters around rich countries with the ability to carry them out, especially in the United States, Japan and New Zealand.
This heat map shows the concentration of deep water dives known with visual observations in exclusive economic zones of the US.
This heat map shows the concentration of deep water dives with visual observations in the Pacific Ocean.
This heat map shows the concentration of knowledge of deep water with visual observations in the North Atlantic.
But what really does the figure of “0.001 percent” of Bell? Do we really know less about the bottom of the sea than us or the moon or Mars? The correct answer, according to researchers, is No, AltheHous This setback comes with important warnings. On the one hand, it is worth noting that statistics of 99,999 percent explicitly represent what we have not “directly free” from the deep background fund, which means everything we have not surveyed through visual images. This is different from the mapping, which can measure the topography of the seabed with or without compilation of visual data. “Seeing” is not the same as “sampling”, the collection of geological or biological specimens of a particular area. These three elements (visual images, land mapping and physical sampling) are fully “exploring” an unknown environment, says Bell.
With that in mind, it is not so shocking that Bell’s number would be so small, Alfred Mcewen, principal researcher of the high -resolution image experiment in the NASA Mars recognition orbiter and a planetary geologist at the University of Arizon. Orbital surveillance has allowed us to create incredibly detailed visual maps of the surface of the moon and Mars that far exceed those that we have for the bottom of the Earth’s ocean. But that’s different from comprehensionMcewen says. “I mean, you can map the topography and brightness and color variations and have beautiful maps,” he adds. “But that does not mean that you comprehension What is in terms of composition, relevant processes, etc.? “
In addition, any talk about directly observing the seabed of the earth versus the surfaces of Mars and the Moon “is a bit of comparison from apples to oranges,” says Mathieu Lapôtre, geophysics of Stanford University. The first is hidden under the kilometers of cold, dark and overwhelming water, while the letter can be seen clearly from a spacecraft that passes over.
But we have managed to find very intelligent ways to present the depths of the ocean, says Lapôtre. For example, using satellite altimeters or sonar technology, it is more than possible to build a fairly precise model of how the sea bottom looks. In that sense, there is more likely that we “understand” about the background of the ocean, part, part of its role in the configuration of terrestrial systems, we do it on the surface of the moon or Mars, says Mcewen. And at least partially by virtuous of our proximity and familiarity with the ocean and all its complexities, he adds, it seems to us a richer and more vibrant place, with “envios of dynamic, underlined change and soh.
Even if we do, in fact, we “know” the oceans of the earth better than the surface of any body of another world, which cannot be done not that there are no benefits for the optical data of higher resolution of Deep, says Brettine, says Brettine, says Brett, says Brettes, says Bretins, says, he says, he says, he says, says Starytes, he says, says Bretts says, says Bretts. Applied Physics Laboratory, which is involved with NASA’s lunar recognition orbiter and was not part of the new work. As our Maps of the Moon have improved, Denevi explains, we have not resolved all lunar mysteries but have inseminated new ones. The more we learn, the more we see, the better, it seems, that we can identify smaller and subtle environmental details that will otherwise fail or sampling that are otherwise seen on stage.
“And often, the smallest things can be important things, right?” Lapôtre says. “The background of the ocean, we know, is very complex. It has all these characteristics that are fascinating for many reasons, for example, the example, the origins of life, the tectonics of plates and the subduction areas and all those times much land.
“Imagine being the owner of a house but never go down to the basement to discover how its heater or electrical system works,” says Bell. For example, he says, it was only in the 1970s that humanity discovered about the prosperous ecosystems around hydrothermal vents, a discovery that showed that biology could flourish the same in the depths of the ocean and “changed our understanding of life.” The indirect mapping of the sonar and other techniques allows him to “see” the ridges of the medium -sized ocean that some of these vents. But the real search for vents was a fortuitous discovery that was only possible thanks to deep water cameras.
And, Bell points out, given the wonders that we have already witnessed for our direct visits of only 0.001 percent of the seabed, the prospects for more revolutionary observations are good. The abysmally low figure for our visual knowledge of the abyss is a cause for emotion, not dismay, she says. Together with Burgeonon’s technological advances to make underwater exploration better, cheaper and safer, Bell’s evaluation is an invitation to begin “an impartial and more representative look at the Global Deep Seberloor.”
“On the side of the exploration of things, the [new study] It really establishes the basis for establishing a global initiative that we should undertake in the next 10 to 20 years, “says Bell. Questions we never think or before.”
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