Education: Themes: Seafloor Mapping: Multimedia: NOAA Ocean Exploration

Geology and Biology of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Join Scott France, biology lead for the second Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition, and Ashton Flinders, geology lead for the expedition, for an overview of what the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is and why it is important to explore.

Animation of Multibeam Echosounder

Okeanos Explorer, “America's Ship for Ocean Exploration”, is equipped with the latest in technology systems, including multibeam sonar.

Mapping the “Ocean”

Mapping the seafloor can reveal features, such as seamounts, that we didn't even know existed before.

Discovering Deepwater Jarvis

The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was founded in 2009. The Monument was expanded in 2014 to include protection of Jarvis Island, about 1,000 miles south of Hawaii.

Underwater Gas Plume

Data from the multibeam sonar on the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer provided a 3D image of an underwater gas plume rising 4,600 feet from the seafloor off the California Coast in 2009.

Connecting the Dots

Since 2010, the NOAA OER has been collecting mapping data along the Blake Plateau, Blake Ridge, and Blake Escarpment and has mapped over 65,000 square kilometers (25,097 square miles) of seafloor in this region.

A Needle in a Haystack

During the Windows to the Deep 2019 expedition, we had identified several sonar anomalies to further explore as potential shipwreck sites.

Seamounts: A Geologic Puzzle

One of the primary goals of the Mountains in the Deep expedition was to get a good first look at the deep-sea habitats that exist throughout the Central Pacific Basin, with a particular focus on seamounts.

Seamounts - mountain - height above sea level

Illustration of a mountain showing height above sea level.

Seamounts - bathymetry - depth below sea level

Illustration of a seamount showing depth below sea level.

Wet Map

This vertical image, from a multibeam sonar survey in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, shows an approximately 1,700 meter seamount height difference when compared to previous satellite altimetry.

Depth/Width

Illustration of the depth to width ratio of multibeam sonar mapping.

AUV Mapping

Illustration of an AUV mapping the seafloor from below the sea surface.

Sonar Labels

Illustration of sonar signals being sent from a ship to the seafloor.

Multibeam sonar data collected by NOAA Ship <i>Okeanos Explorer</i> showing the three-dimensional topography of the Gulf Stream and the Million Mounds coral region off the southeast US Coast. Many of the coral mounds here rise over 30 meters (100 feet) above the seafloor and create important habitat that supports a diversity of marine life.

Stetson North

Multibeam sonar data collected by NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer showing the three-dimensional topography of the Gulf Stream and the Million Mounds coral region off the southeast US Coast. Many of the coral mounds here rise over 30 meters (100 feet) above the seafloor and create important habitat that supports a diversity of marine life.

In May, during the first Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition, NOAA Ocean Exploration completed the largest continuous mapping survey effort to date over the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone, collecting bathymetric data along this geologically fascinating and ecologically exceptional region. These images show satellite-derived bathymetry data (top) in comparison to the high-resolution bathymetry data (bottom) collected during Voyage to the Ridge 2022 using the multibeam system on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer.

Satellite Versus High-Resolution Bathymetry Data

These images show satellite-derived bathymetry data (top) in comparison to the high-resolution bathymetry data (bottom) collected during Voyage to the Ridge 2022 using the multibeam system on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer.

New England Seamounts

Almost 40 seamounts were mapped during the 2021 North Atlantic Stepping Stones: New England and Corner Rise Seamounts expedition, including more than half that had little to no preexisting data.

Cloud Mapping Diagram

Seafloor mapping provides explorers, scientists, and more with a picture of the seafloor.

Seafloor Maps

This "before and after" image provides a glimpse of Okeanos Explorer’s EM302 mapping system capabilities in deep water.

Raw Multibeam Sonar

Multibeam sonar creates high resolution images of the seafloor using multiple, simultaneous sonar beams (sound waves) at once in a fan-like pattern.

Vailulu’u Seamount

Multibeam sonar systems also capture backscatter data from the water column. While mapping the Vailulu’u Seamount, explorers detected a plume of bubbles rising from the seafloor.

Plumes

Three-dimensional perspective of D2 Dive 19 track (white lines) and waypoints (red points) with superposed water column bubble plumes imaged by NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer mapping team (multi-colored point clouds).

Multibeam Data

High-resolution bathymetry mapping data collected by the multibeam sonars of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer revealed complex topographic features around Saba Valley.

Mapping Team

The mapping team creates high resolution visualizations of the seafloor using the sounding data from the multibeam sonar.

Terraced Features

Prior to the Windows to the Deep 2018 expedition, this section of the Blake Escarpment appeared to be an area of low slope with no distinct features based on satellite altimetry.

The U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends from the edge of the U.S. territorial waters (12 nautical miles off of the U.S. coast) out to 200 nautical miles offshore. Mapping the complete EEZ is an important goal for ocean expeditions in U.S. waters. This map shows the boundaries of the U.S. EEZ, outlined in yellow, as well as deep and shallow water areas of the U.S. EEZ that have not been mapped as of January 2020.

Mapping the EEZ

This map shows the boundaries of the U.S. EEZ, outlined in yellow, as well as deep and shallow water areas of the U.S. EEZ that have not been mapped as of January 2020.

Education Theme: Seafloor Mapping

Videos and Images, and Multimedia