Sounding the Sea; A Study in Bathymetric Mapping

1.       Identify the research questions for this activity, and your ideas/answers to those questions.

2.       Define the following ocean floor features (your model maps contained at least three of them) and provide pictures for three of them:

a.       A flat abyssal plain.

b.      An underwater seamount or guyot.

c.       A continental shelf, break, slope, and rise.

d.      A submarine canyon on the continental shelf.

e.      The mid-ocean ridge.

f.        A trench and island arc system.

3.       Write up responses to the three analysis questions above.

4.       Write two new research questions based on what you have learned from this activity:

5.       What was the value and importance of this activity to your study of science.

Ocean floor features can be measured and mapped using current acoustical technology such as bathymetric mapping and sonar technology. Ocean floor maps can be used in the commercial, military, and/or private sector by identifying underwater objects such as submarines. A flat abyssal plain is any flat or gently sloping sediment-covered section of the ocean floor.An underwater seamount is an underwater mountain rising from the ocean floor and having a peaked or flat-topped summit below the surface of the water.  A trench/island arc system is a group of volcanic islands, usually situated in a curving arch-like pattern that is convex toward the open ocean, having a deep trench on the convex side.

Flat Abyssal Plain

Underwater Seamount

Trench./Island Arc System

 http://www.morning-earth.org/Graphic-E/BIOSPHERE/Bios-PL-BenthicBiomes1.htm

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/weeklynews/may10/seamounts.html

http://news.dbv.vn/japan-said-chinas-claim-to-okinawa-as-unthinking-27511.html

Based on my seafloor model, the topography of my surveryed area was flat in some places with gentle slopes/valleys/inclines. Most measurements were basically the same; all between 6.5 and 8.5 inches with many areas consisting of the same measurement, usually 7.5. We used a simulation of remote sensing technology, which is better than direct observation because it measures every possible valley and incline, rather than our eyes just skimming over and capturing the general idea. In the real ocean, direct observation would not be useful because we cannot see the ocean floor clearly from an aerial view. It also gives you more coverage; a bigger area of measurement. We used vertical exaggeration because it stretches out the sea floor, exposing every detail. The value and importance of this activity to my study of science was that I learned new ways to measure the ocean floor and discovered technology I wasn't previously aware of. It opened up new horizons to my future in science, since I want to go into environmental studies.

Two new research questions

1. How else could bathymetric mapping be useful?
2. What would a bathymetric map look like when complete?