what are the lines on the bottom of the ocean

In other words there are no physical lines on the ocean floor. These lines are artifacts of the ocean floor mapping process. Oceanographers

use sonar—sound waves—to map the ocean bottom.

Full Answer

What are the lines on the ocean floor?

These lines are artifacts of the ocean floor mapping process. Oceanographers use sonar—sound waves—to map the ocean bottom. These sonar readings are typically taken by ships towing submersible devices that send out sound waves. The sound travels through the ocean, bounces off the seafloor, then travels back to the ships.

What is at the bottom of the sea?

The bottom of the sea is far from uniform. As described by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, both the longest mountain range in the world and the tallest mountain peak can be found in the depths of the sea. There are deep trenches and chasms, flat plains, and even salt lakes under the waves.

What do the straight lines on Google map ocean bottom mean?

Straight lines on Google Map ocean bottom are the frontiers of the known ocean depths. The lines are well measure depths measured directly, and the large areas are the less known bottom, which has been determined indirectly. I created this map from depth data at GEBCO - The General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans.

What is that 3000 mile straight line on the ocean floor?

What is that 3,000 mile straight line on the ocean floor going south from Polynesia? It is simply the straight line where an Oceanographic research ship has surveyed the ocean bottom and for which there is a greater detail of bottom topography available to Google Earth/Maps. Network/Internet Engineer, Consultant, Entrepreneur.

What are the lines on the ocean surface?

These patches are actually called windrows, and they are usually parallel lines of “stuff” sometime stretching for more than a kilometer. In our waters they are composed largely of sargassum, foam/bubbles, and a mixture of floating polyfoam, plastic, and other jetsam blown or dropped off of boats.

Why does the ocean have lines?

These are the result of atmospheric gravity waves—waves that form in the atmosphere as a result of sinking and rising air. The troughs of the waves are ruffling the water's surface, creating lines of rough water. The waves scatter light, creating lines of darkness where less light is reaching the sensor in space.

What are the tracks on the ocean floor on Google Earth?

1:453:48New Seafloor in Google Earth Tour - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThrough the pacific antarctic mid-ocean ridge this ridge formed as Antarctica separated from NewMoreThrough the pacific antarctic mid-ocean ridge this ridge formed as Antarctica separated from New Zealand some 95 million years ago we call these ridges abyssal Hills.

What is the thing at the bottom of the ocean?

7:0013:26The Few Things We Know About The Bottom Of The Ocean - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd according to smithsonian ocean there are deep undersea canyons that stretch for hundreds ofMoreAnd according to smithsonian ocean there are deep undersea canyons that stretch for hundreds of miles. As on land this landscape creates a wide variety of habitats.

Why is the ocean blurred on Google Maps?

“[T]he real answer is the blue color around the island is a painted-in color, so the oceans look uniform in the maps… Islands are added by erasing some of that blue to let the satellite image show through… Sometimes they do a sloppy job.

Where is the lost city of Atlantis on Google Earth?

Here's the co-ordinates to find Atlantis with Google Earth; coordinates: 31 15'15.53N, 24 15'30.53W (600 miles west of Morocco, deep in the Atlantic Ocean)

Can you see Titanic on Google Earth?

If you are still curious about where she is, you can find the Titanic at 41.725556, -49.946944 on Google Maps.

What would a human look like at the bottom of the ocean?

0:204:09What Happens To Your Body at the Bottom Of The Ocean - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipLow-frequency. Sound waves could travel for hundreds of miles. And alert sharks to the incoming.MoreLow-frequency. Sound waves could travel for hundreds of miles. And alert sharks to the incoming. Human buffet if your corpse manages to sink however it may avoid predation altogether.

Why is the ocean not fully discovered?

One of the biggest challenges of ocean exploration comes down to physics. Dr. Gene Carl Feldman, an oceanographer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, explains that the ocean, at great depths, is characterized by zero visibility, extremely cold temperatures, and crushing amounts of pressure.

Is there life at the bottom of the ocean?

The deep-ocean floor is teeming with undiscovered life-forms that help to regulate Earth's climate, a new study finds. Researchers sequenced DNA from deep-sea sediments around the world and found that there is at least three times more life on the seafloor than there is higher up in the ocean.

Can we touch the bottom of the ocean?

But reaching the lowest part of the ocean? Only three people have ever done that, and one was a U.S. Navy submariner. In the Pacific Ocean, somewhere between Guam and the Philippines, lies the Marianas Trench, also known as the Mariana Trench.

Is it possible to live at the bottom of the ocean?

Yes, we can. Fabien Cousteau, son of the famous explorer Jacques Cousteau, managed to live 31 days in the undersea laboratory Aquarius, setting a new record for the longest time spent underwater for a film crew.

Why are there lines in the ocean on Google Earth?

These lines are artifacts of the ocean floor mapping process. Oceanographers use sonar—sound waves—to map the ocean bottom. These sonar readings are typically taken by ships towing submersible devices that send out sound waves.

What are the dark streaks in the ocean?

The dark color occurs when high concentrations of phytoplankton (microscopic algae) or colored dissolved organic matter in the water absorb the blue light.

What are the streaks in water?

The streaks themselves may consist of accumulations of floating objects, such as Gulf-weed (Woodcock 1950), pine needles or bubbles of foam, all of which are visible because of their colour. Others are local concentrations of an oil film (presumably of planktonic origin) which damp the tiny wind-raised capillary waves.

What are the brown lines in the ocean?

Sargassum is a genus of brown (class Phaeophyceae) macroalgae (seaweed) in the order Fucales. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral reefs, and the genus is widely known for its planktonic (free-floating) species.

What is the name of the isopod that was found in the ocean?

A giant deep-sea isopod, Bathynomus giganteus, with an antipatharian whip coral, Stichopathes sp., in the foreground. While this isopod was spotted during exploration of “Okeanos Ridge,” we saw several of these throughout the expedition, and even managed to catch footage of one swimming. © NOAA

What is the BBC's goal for Seabed 2030?

As their name suggests, their goal is to collect all available data to produce a complete map of the global seabed by 2030. They also want to make all of that information publically available.

What is the line on the bottom of the ocean?

Straight lines on Google Map ocean bottom are the frontiers of the known ocean depths. The lines are well measure depths measured directly, and the large areas are the less known bottom, which has been determined indirectly.

Where do the tracks in the Pacific Ocean start?

You'll notice that most of them start near either San Diego (Scripps Institute of Oceanography) or Hawai'i (Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology). On any of these, if you zoom in, you'll see a resolution contrast like the picture above.

How is the sea floor mapped?

The sea floor has been mapped by gravity (very low resolution, looks fuzzy) and sonar. The detail in sonar images will vary because of a number of factors, like the quality and frequency of the sonar, the speed of the ship, and the depth of the water.

How was the ocean image developed?

That image was developed by careful measuring of the ocean’s surface … and interpreting the “bumps” and “valleys” as being caused by irregularities on the floor, many kilometers below. The data are verified by ships taking actual soundings.

What is a swath in a ship?

The detailed straight lines you're seeing are "swaths", the images captured by a high quality multi-beam sonar. The direction of the swath is due to the course of the ship.

Where are photos taken that reveal the sea floor?

There are some areas where the oceans are not too deep (around the Bahamas, for example) where photos can be taken that reveal the sea floor. But those areas are rare.

Is the pink line a natural feature?

The parallel pink lines, however, are not mapping anomalies. These are natural features, which are created perpendicular to seafloor spreading ridges, and I'm sure they're described in many places on Quora.

Why can't fish survive in the ocean?

This process is called eutrophication, and it’s a big problem that can lead to massive “ dead zones ” along the coast where ocean life can’t thrive because the water lacks oxygen.

How to reduce nutrients in coastal waters?

One way to try and cut down on the amount of nutrients in coastal waters, and prevent the cascade of ecosystem damage that results, is both environmentally and economically friendly: growing shellfish (e.g. oysters, clams, mussels) for seafood and restoring oyster reefs.

What river is nitrogen removed from?

A Chesapeake Bay waterman hauls in oysters. In the Potomac River estuary, extra nitrogen could be removed with the addition of more farm shellfish farms on the river bottom. Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Can whales get hit by a ship?

These collisions may go unreported or, often, unnoticed by ship crews. In some cases, particularly in cases of collisions with whales, vessels may also sustain significant damage. Whales surface near a tanker. Getting hit by a ship, boat, or other marine vessel is a common risk faced by ocean mammals.

Is trash bad for the ocean?

Trash in our ocean and on our beaches is bad for marine animals. They can get tangled in it or eat it and become sick or starve. Trash on the beach is also bad for tourism. While it may seem obvious that people prefer a beach that is not littered with debris, what is less obvious is how much a clean beach is worth in terms of tourism and recreation dollars.

What is the bottom of the ocean covered with?

Most of the ocean bottom is covered with sediments except volcanic areas. Marine science students can study local shorelines at low tide such as rocky shores (left), sandy beaches (middle) and mud flats (right). (GA images) Shorelines of the ocean are either solid rock, sandy beaches, or mudflats.

What is the physical bottom of the ocean?

The actual physical bottom of the ocean (or substrate) is generally some type of rock or sedimentand can be categorized as terrogenous, biogenous or hydrogenous. Terrogenous bottoms cover much of the Central and North Pacific as well as polar regions and all of the continental borderlands. Biogenous bottoms are common in temperate oceans less than 4,000-5,000 meters deep like the South Pacific, North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. Biogenous bottoms are also common in high latitude sea floors around Antarctica and the North Pacific as well as a band in the equatorial Pacific. Hydrogenous bottoms have wide distributions but are more concentrated in the Central and South Pacific.

What is biogenous bottom?

Biogenous bottoms are sometimes referred to as oozesdepending on the most common type of shell material in the sediments. Calcareous oozes result from a dominance of calcium shells which were originally from organisms such as foraminifera, snails, and sea urchins. These calcareous oozes are never found deeper than about 4,000 to 5,000 meters because the calcium dissolves at deeper depths. Siliceous oozes result from a dominance of siliceous (glass) shell pieces made from planktonic organisms like diatoms and radiolarians. Where there are major plankton blooms with a sudden die off (tropical Pacific off South America, North Pacific off the Aleutian Islands, and all around Antarctica) there are tremendous numbers of diatoms that reproduce and die each year contributing to the siliceous material on the sea floor. This shell material may build up at the rate of 1mm to 1cm every 1,000 years depending on the productivity.

What is the mineral found in the bottom of the ocean?

Hydrogenous ocean bottoms are primarily manganese nodule deposits (above). The shark tooth was found inside of one of the larger nodules. (GA image)

How are ocean bottom sediments recorded?

History is recorded in ocean bottom sedimentsas they build up layer by layer. Ash from volcanic eruptions sinks and forms a layer, the shells of the organisms living there sink and form their layers. Geologists take cores of the ocean bottom sediments and study them layer by layer. This is also the way they prospect for oil and gas because certain species of foraminifera live during the periods of oil and gas production - a scientist can tell if it might be worth drilling in an area of the ocean bottom just by looking at the forams in cores of the sediment. Periods of productivity are also preserved in the layers. Most of the ocean bottom is covered with sediments except volcanic areas.

What are the materials in the ocean bottom?

Terrogenous ocean bottoms consist of materials like rock, sand and mud. (GA image)

How do scientists know if it's worth drilling in an area of the ocean bottom?

This is also the way they prospect for oil and gas because certain species of foraminifera live during the periods of oil and gas production - a scientist can tell if it might be worth drilling in an area of the ocean bottom just by looking at the forams in cores of the sediment.

What does it mean when you see grids on the seafloor?

When you see strange grid-like formations on the seafloor while using an online mapping tool, what you are really seeing is two (or more) different maps layered on top of each other. One map may show a large, low-resolution picture of the ocean floor. This map will show little detail and will look smooth. The other map, or 'data set,' often looks like a bunch of grid-like lines overlaying the smooth, low-detail map. The path of the lines show the paths traveled by the ships that gathered these higher-resolution sonar readings of smaller patches of the ocean.

What is the ocean floor mapping process?

These lines are artifacts of the ocean floor mapping process. Oceanographers use sonar—sound waves—to map the ocean bottom. These sonar readings are typically taken by ships towing submersible devices that send out sound waves. The sound travels through the ocean, bounces off the seafloor, then travels back to the ships.

How does sound travel through the ocean?

The sound travels through the ocean, bounces off the seafloor, then travels back to the ships. This process creates a sound 'image' of the peaks and valleys on the ocean bottom. NOAA is just one of many agencies around the world that uses sonar to 'see' what the seafloor looks like.

Where is the underwater city?

The area above is one of the more frequently cited 'underwater city' locations in online lore. It's a spot northwest of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean located at the following coordinates: 31º15'15" N, 24º 15' 30". With the advent of online mapping tools such as Google Earth, exploring our planet is easier than ever before.