EVER wanted to explore the deep ocean without getting wet? Now you can with Ocean in , the new addition to the company鈥檚 virtual Earth model.
The tool will allow users to fly beyond the beach and, in place of the flat seabed image of previous versions, see a shimmering, semi-transparent sea. Dive beneath it and the oceanic mountain ranges, trenches and abyssal plains are there for all to see.
Google鈥檚 usual satellite imaging can鈥檛 peer through deep water to map the seabed. Instead, sound is the tool of choice when mapping the ocean floor. Passing sonar arrays over every patch of ocean is beyond even Google鈥檚 means, so it has had to rely on the US navy for much of the information. As a result, some 鈥渟ensitive鈥� areas are blank. Other navies and research institutions around the world also provided data, helping Google Earth鈥檚 software engineers to stitch together a map with a resolution in the order of 500 to 1000 metres. In areas where a lot of research groups operate, such as Monterey Bay in California, the resolution is down to a couple of metres 鈥� better than most of the land maps in Google Earth.
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Google hopes researchers will continue to contribute to the project. 鈥淥ur hope is that people who have these small patches of good data will be excited and come out of the woodwork,鈥� says Steve Miller, Ocean in Google Earth鈥檚 lead developer.
The tool also extends beyond mapping the layout of the seabed. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge thing to see all the undulations, terrain, sea mounts and trenches,鈥� says Miller, 鈥渂ut we want to engage people with everything from marine life to cutting- edge science as well.鈥�
Marine scientists currently use a variety of platforms to share and display their research, but none has become a central hub. Google hopes to fill this void by providing an open platform where scientists can combine data from buoys, ships and other sensors with maps of species distribution and tracks of everything from whale sharks to eels.
Sylvia Earle, a marine conservationist and former chief scientist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who inspired the tool, hopes it will help protect the seas in their time of need. 鈥淢aybe this will help people see how the ocean and land are interconnected and stir them into action,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of ocean out there that we have to explore and communicate with the world.鈥�
