{"id":1790761,"date":"2021-05-04T14:05:43","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T18:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1790761"},"modified":"2021-05-04T14:05:43","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T18:05:43","slug":"mapping-shallow-seafloors-with-satellite-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/05\/mapping-shallow-seafloors-with-satellite-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping Shallow Seafloors with Satellite Data"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Seafloor<\/a>
David Lagomasino\/East Carolina University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA Earth Observatory summarizes recent work in using satellite data to improve our maps of shallow seafloors<\/a>\u2014where the situation changes more often than traditional sonar methods can track\u2014by, among other things, using a laser altimeter system on one of NASA\u2019s satellites.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Nathan Thomas and Lola Fatoyinbo of NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, along with colleagues from three countries, took another step by mating ICESat-2 measurements with images from Copernicus Sentinel-2 to derive bathymetry at better resolution. The team mapped the shallows down a depth of 26 meters (85 feet) around Biscayne Bay in Florida, the Gulf of Chania in Crete, and the island of Bermuda.<\/p>\n

Thomas and colleagues compared their satellite-derived bathymetry with maps made from traditional topographic surveys, multibeam sonar, and nautical soundings. Their new maps had a resolution of 10 meters, improving upon the current 115-meter resolution dataset for Crete and the 30- to 90-meter datasets for Florida and Bermuda. The existing data for Florida and Bermuda are composites of lots of sources spanning 63 years, while the ICESat-2\/Sentinel-2 maps offer a contemporary assessment of underwater structure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See also this earlier Earth Observatory item from last year<\/a>. (Deep water bathymetry is another thing: light can\u2019t get down that far. But out-of-date soundings are less impactful on shipping.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA Earth Observatory summarizes recent work in using satellite data to improve our maps of shallow seafloors\u2014where the situation changes more often than traditional sonar methods can track\u2014by, among other things, using a laser altimeter… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[431],"class_list":["post-1790761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-oceans","tag-bathymetry","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1808746,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/08\/remotely-operated-vessel-maps-tonga-caldera\/","url_meta":{"origin":1790761,"position":0},"title":"Remotely Operated Vessel Maps Tonga Caldera","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 August 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"As part of the Tonga Eruption Seabed Mapping Project, a robotic vessel has conducted a bathymetric survey of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha\u2018apai volcano\u2019s underwater caldera. Said volcano, you will recall, erupted spectacularly last January. The 12-metre vessel, USV Maxlimer, was controlled remotely from 16,000 km away, and carried sensors to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disasters"","block_context":{"text":"Disasters","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/disasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Aerial view of the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha\u2019apai (HT-HH) volcano, showing new multibeam depth data overlaid on a satellite image of the islands (deep depths in blue, shallow depths in red).","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/tonga-post-eruption-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":655,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/01\/seafloor-gravity-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1790761,"position":1},"title":"Seafloor Gravity Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"31 January 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The ocean floor\u00a0is\u00a0still very much\u00a0terra incognita: only 5 to 15 percent of it has been mapped via bathymetry. But using military satellite measurements of the Earth's shape and gravity field, a new map of the ocean floor has been created. \"The result of their efforts is a global data set\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oceans"","block_context":{"text":"Oceans","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/oceans\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"seafloor","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/seafloor-1024x737.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/seafloor-1024x737.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/seafloor-1024x737.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/seafloor-1024x737.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791372,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/cross-stitched-earth-science-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1790761,"position":2},"title":"Cross-stitched Earth Science Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 July 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"\ufeff Kara Prior cross-stitches earth science maps; her work includes a series of state bedrock geology maps (see also Reddit) and a bathymetry map of the Great Lakes (above), among other things. She has\u00a0an Etsy store.","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5990,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2015\/05\/mapping-the-california-sea-floor\/","url_meta":{"origin":1790761,"position":3},"title":"Mapping the California Sea Floor","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 May 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"The USGS's California Seafloor Mapping Program has produced a set of insanely detailed maps of the sea floor along the California coast. Downloadable as rather hefty PDF files; the map sheets are three feet across as paper maps. 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To be sure, as the above video shows, this is really about taking geospatial and remote sensing data from several different sources and correlating them to build a predictive model: it's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/c6g2ILL--Rw\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1809954,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/11\/extent-of-tongan-eruption-revealed-by-new-seafloor-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1790761,"position":5},"title":"Extent of Tongan Eruption Revealed by New Seafloor Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 November 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Scientists have now mapped the seafloor around the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha\u2018apai volcano, and as a result we have learned just how massive the January 2022 eruption was. By comparing their soundings with 2017 data, they determined that at least 9.5 km3 of material was discharged. 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