Oceans and seas cover 70% of the Earth's surface, and their average depth is 3,700 metres. The distances of outer space can extend to millions of light-years. However, we know space better than the depths of the sea. How can this be?
Outer space and seabed research perfectly complement and feed into each other, because complex studies help us understand our origins and our present, and can also support us in planning for the future. But identifying the nearest seabed is still more difficult, and the main obstacle to mapping is precisely the filling material, that is, water, because electromagnetic waves are quickly absorbed in the medium, while propagating in space over huge distances.
It could be ready within six years
The oceans can only be examined indirectly using probes, cables and submersibles, which may actually be robotic. In 2023, the seafloor topography will still contain only surface area It was a quarter It was drawn using acoustic methods. Ships equipped with such instruments are extremely slow, moving at a speed of only 5 kilometers per hour, and at this pace it would take three centuries to cover the entire sea floor.
In the 1990s, ocean depth was estimated by looking at changes in the water surface based on satellite data.
The depths of the sea still hide wonderful secrets, for example animals whose relatives are already extinct and whose traces can only be found in the deposits of sedimentary layers.
The full ocean map will also be important for analyzing and modeling ocean circulation and climate, resource management, tsunami prediction, public safety, sediment transport, environmental change, and cable and pipeline routing.
Due to the lack of detailed underwater topographic and bathymetric data, sustainable management of marine resources and protection of coastal communities has not yet been possible, but the Nippon Foundation has launched an initiative Seabed 2030 ProjectThe essence of which is to build the necessary technical, scientific and administrative frameworks by 2030. In the ideal scenario, a digital map of the world's ocean floor will be compiled from all available seabed map information within six years.
This supports the United Nations ocean science goals and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Expensive space missions
The beginning of space research was the Soviet Luna-1 mission in 1959, and 60 years later, space probes visited all eight planets in the solar system. These sensors have captured and continue to capture stunning images of uninhabitable but diverse landscapes.
Space camera recordings are becoming more accurate and detailed, as new instruments help map extraterrestrial materials, chemical and mineralogical composition, and analyze organic molecules.
It has already become possible to draw geological maps of the planets without humans stepping on their surfaces.
Our knowledge of the solar system comes from meteorites that broke up as a result of collisions and landed on Earth. NASA's space missions also rely on collecting materials, as was the case with the Apollo missions to the Moon and more recently with the OSIRIS-REx mission.
But of course, although space has been better mapped than the seas, we have not yet reached the end, and perhaps never will. We've come a long way, but the probes haven't left the Sun's region yet, even though Voyager 1 and 2 are on their way to interstellar space.
Space outside the solar system still holds many mysteries, but with the help of advanced and expensive technology, we can likely examine the surfaces of stars and the rocky or gaseous nature of exoplanets. Biological and geological processes identified in the dark environment of extraterrestrial organic molecules or at the seafloor are important because they can shed light on whether life is or could be possible to evolve elsewhere in the universe.
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