Walk the world’s ocean bottoms with new Google map

3 comments

1. 1
   

   fastlane

   October 1, 2012 at 1:05 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment

   It’s awesome to get all this stuff documented like this! I wonder if they can design a small submersible that can be remotely or autonomously controlled, with the requisite cameras, to map the less accessible parts of the oceans.

   I fear that this will ultimately be depressing, as we see a comparison in the future of what our oceans used to look like.

2. 2
   

   Gvlgeologist, FCD

   October 1, 2012 at 2:46 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment

   This will be great for me and my students; I teach Oceanography.

   As for fastlane’s concerns, what we’ve got now is bad enough. The googlemap might show bleached corals, ghost fishing crab and lobster pots and drift nets, the ocean dump offshore from NYC, or the plastic junkyard in the central Pacific. Did you know that some of the most common items in deep ocean photographs are discarded drink cans and bottles?

   Actually, I hope that Google does go to these areas. It might make people more aware of how our actions are despoiling the ocean.

3. 3
   

   anubisprime

   October 1, 2012 at 4:09 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment

   I bet the cameraman that scored that gig was a happy bunny!