Sounding the sea: a study in bathymetric mapping

1. How can ocean floor features be measured and mapped using current acoustical technology? How can ocean floor maps be used in the commercial, military, and/or private sector?  

Ocean floor features can be measured by using sonar. They send waves to the ocean floor and see how long it takes them to bounce and come back. 

2. define the following:

a. abyssal plains: plains on the deep ocean floor that lie between the foot of a continental rise and a mid-ocean ridges

b. underwater sea-mount: An underwater mountain rising from the ocean floor and having a peaked or flat-topped summit below the surface of the sea

c. mid-ocean ridge: an underwater mountain range formed by plate tectonics

d. trench: long, narrow topographic depressions of the ocean that are the deepest parts of the ocean 

3. Responses to the analysis questions:

Our ocean floor was somewhat simple, but it did have some neat physical features. There were some slopes in the seafloor to show that there were deep trenches. In some places on the ocean floor, there were rougher areas than others. With remote sensing technology, we have the advantage of detecting and classifying objects with things such as satellites. The advantage of using vertical exaggeration lets us figure out and classify objects on the seafloor with ease. 

4.What is the importance of ocean floor maps? What kinds of thing might make up the sea floor?

5. The importance of this assignment was to get a better understanding of mapping the ocean floor. This gives scientists a better idea of what the ocean floor looks like based on what is there.