Space satellites find more mountains on Earth’s ocean floors

BBC : “We know much more about the topography of Mars than we know about the sea floor,” says Dietmar Müller of the University of Sydney. The problem has been that standard land-based techniques for mapping terrain don’t work underwater and ship-borne echo sounders have been able to scan only limited stretches of the ocean floor. Now Müller and his colleagues have discovered thousands more underwater mountains through the use of the improved radar technologies of the Jason-1 and CryoSat-2 satellites. Better understanding of the topography of the ocean floor is important for furthering our understanding of its influence on global climate, for fisheries management and conservation, and for many other reasons. Although current satellite data have proven extremely useful, the researchers hope a dedicated mission will be approved to more thoroughly map the shape of the sea floor.