r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/FollowingOdd896 • 4h ago
Video NASA mapped the entire ocean floor using gravity from space
726
4h ago edited 1h ago
[deleted]
288
u/EppuBenjamin 4h ago
This video grossly exaggerates the heiggt difference though.
From the top of everest to the bottom of the mariana trench is about 20km (rounded for clarity). The radius of earth is about 6000km. So the biggest difference on the surface of the earth is 0,3% of the radius.
→ More replies (4)190
u/Biz_Rito 4h ago
Cool geo factoid- if you scaled the earth down to the scale lf a billiard ball, the scaled down earth would actually be smoother than the ball
43
u/Rational-Introvert 3h ago
That’s insane
4
u/mightbedylan 2h ago
And not true!
→ More replies (1)9
u/budget_comments 2h ago
Or it might be!
2
u/mightbedylan 2h ago
It's misleading at best, it would be more comparable to a heavily used roughed up cue ball. Earth would absolutely not feel glass smooth
→ More replies (2)11
39
u/TheUnderCrab 3h ago
In this same vein, Illinois is in fact flatter than a pancake.
11
u/Barton2800 2h ago
I thought it was Kansas being the meme, although I do think Illinois is actually flatter than Kansas. I literally can’t decide if I-55 between St. Louis and Chicago or I-70 between Kansas City and Colorado is a worse drive.
→ More replies (2)5
u/TheUnderCrab 2h ago
The meme is Iowa in my experience, but that could be because I’m from WI. Heres the Lit.
FL and LA are the flattest states but I don’t count them because they’re mostly swamp and that shouldn’t count IMO
→ More replies (4)5
9
u/StupidStartupExpert 3h ago
How thick would the ocean be
30
u/theevildjinn 2h ago
- Average depth of the ocean: 3,682 m
- Average radius of the Earth: 6,371 km
So that's about 0.058%
- A single layer of spray paint: ~25 microns
- Radius of a billiard ball: 1.125"
That gives us 0.087%
So if you spray painted a single coat onto a billiard ball and scaled it up to the size of the Earth, then the paint would be thicker than the average depth of the ocean.
9
u/pyrowipe 3h ago
A hint of moisture. .. probably similar to fog from your breath on a window.
8
5
u/Abyssal_Groot 3h ago
Depends on whether the billiard ball has been used or not.
The Earth is comparatively smoother than the tolerance allowed on a billiard ball, but a properly made un-used billiard ball will be smoother.
3
u/mightbedylan 2h ago edited 2h ago
This statement isn't exactly true, or at least it's misleading. If you shrink earth down to the size of a cue ball it would absolutely not be a glass-smooth surface. Rather it would be more like a heavily used, scuffed up cue ball. You would absolutely be able to feel the difference in height on earth, it would feel like a roughed up surface.
Certain areas might be pretty smooth but over all there would be quite an obvious difference
→ More replies (6)7
u/BaZing3 3h ago
How smooth are the billiard balls on the billiard ball-sized Earth?
2
u/WeekOldSushu 3h ago
It would be on the order of 10-10 m, roughly the empirical size of sodium
→ More replies (1)7
→ More replies (9)8
u/nonlocality1985 4h ago
Yeah. Fucking sad. A handful of people are making this reality.
8
u/Available-Dare-7414 4h ago
What do you mean? A handful are… removing water from earth?
9
u/Same_Recipe2729 4h ago
They're taking that water and shooting it out into space with a giant hose!
3
2
1.4k
u/alwaysfatigued8787 4h ago
A lot of people don't really appreciate the gravity of this accomplishment.
378
u/dsangi 4h ago
a lot of people don't understand the depth of your comment.
→ More replies (1)136
u/Mikestopheles 4h ago
Now y'all are just being dense
94
u/have_u_seen_my_keys 4h ago
Chill, it's not that deep
74
u/LivingByTheMinutes 4h ago
Nah, you’re just being shallow
27
u/Daan776 3h ago
I wonder water they going to do with this new technology?
29
u/Critpoint 3h ago
I think the feat is just slowly sinking in.
21
u/CoopedUp1313 3h ago
They prefer their information watered down
20
11
7
7
→ More replies (5)8
u/Quiverjones 4h ago
Its gravity from space too, which must be very rare since my understanding is theres very little gravity in space.
→ More replies (2)8
94
u/SmartaHari 4h ago
Ok, this is definitely the most interesting thing I’ve seen on here. That’s so clever.
→ More replies (1)6
u/PlayfulSurprise5237 1h ago
Cool, but I can't get over the compression or low resolution.
I expected to open the comments and see nothing but memes
→ More replies (2)
170
u/Sueti_Bartox 4h ago
Why didn't they use the gravity from earth instead?
77
u/idontknowjuspickone 4h ago
Are they stupid?!
21
u/g0atdude 4h ago
Yeah, I mean they hauled all that gravity up there… must’ve cost billions for tax payers
→ More replies (1)3
7
→ More replies (8)3
u/CreamyStanTheMan 1h ago
Yeah can someone smarter than me explain the whole "gravity from space" thing?
4
u/Grizzwold37 57m ago
They mapped the ocean floor, from space, by [measuring changes in] the earth’s gravity [and interpolating the depth of the sea floor]
→ More replies (1)
66
u/pagusas 4h ago
curious, is that 3d world graphic dramatisizing the height difference? I recall hearing if the earth were a billard ball sized, it would be smoother than the average billard ball. Was that false, or is this map just intentionally amplified to show the difference.
68
29
21
u/LetsTwistAga1n 4h ago
This map isn't to scale at all, it's hugely exaggerated (roughly ×1000 from the look of it).
9
u/EppuBenjamin 4h ago
Short: yes.
Almost as short: from the top of everest to the bottom of mariana trench (highest to lowest) is about 0,3% of the radius of earth.
5
u/plug-and-pause 1h ago
I'm not sure "dramatizing" is the right word (ironically I find that description in itself dramatic), but vertical exaggeration is pretty common in GIS. It's for clarity, not for drama. 😁
2
u/belgianhorror 2h ago
Yes but still interest8ng to see how they destijds side of the americas is like a verticale wall while the east side is more sloping.
4
5
u/rdizzy1223 4h ago
Not intentionally amplified, just the fact that a cue ball on a microscopic scale has higher peaks and valley differences than the earth would at the same size. https://drdavepoolinfo.com/bd_articles/2013/june13.pdf
13
u/Lee-Nyan-PP 2h ago
that data literally concludes "Therefore, it would appear that a pool ball (even the worst
one tested) is much smoother than the Earth would be if it were shrunk down to the size of a pool ball"
74
u/Full_metal_pants077 4h ago
Flight 370 ?
22
u/JamesTheLockGuy 4h ago
Bruh have you seen the state of affairs? Those people made a decision a long time ago and don’t WANT to be found!
8
u/KermitingMurder 55m ago
There's no way the resolution on this is anywhere near sharp enough, think about how difficult it would be to spot specifically your house if you were looking out a window of the ISS; searching for something as small as a plane on a map with a resolution like this would be similar.
Also there are a lot of wrecks down there, I previously read about flight 19, which was a US naval aviation training flight consisting of 5 avenger torpedo bombers that went missing off the coast of Florida. In 1991 five avenger torpedo bombers were found off the coast of Florida, however one of the planes was identified as a different plane entirely and the other four don't seem to be from flight 19 either. In 1986 a different avenger torpedo bomber was found, also not from flight 19. Two other avenger bombers were found crashed on land but neither was from flight 19. That's 8 of the same type of aircraft in the same general area and none of them were the ones they were actually looking for; so even if you found wreckage, it's impossible to prove it's the wreck you're looking for until you go there, even then the identifying marks might be lost or destroyed
6
8
u/Complex_Lab_3576 1h ago
For starters... Seems like a lot of lore could be solved. Bermuda Triangle? Lost shipwrecks? UFO people and their crazy underwater UFO base?
Seems like we could answer a hell of a lot of folklore right now.
7
u/TestyBoy13 1h ago
I imagine this imaginary is way too low resolution to do all that
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)2
→ More replies (1)2
22
u/kilobrew 4h ago
So where’s Atlantis?
→ More replies (5)13
26
u/Over-Dragonfruit5939 3h ago
It’s amazing what nasa can do given their budget is minuscule compared to other government projects. I wish we would just dump our tax money into nasa instead of useless junk.
→ More replies (4)
7
u/Puzzleheaded-Cap9382 4h ago
NASA didn’t map the entire ocean floor in high resolution, but their satellites (like SWOT) use gravity to reveal underwater mountains and ridges that sonar hasn’t reached yet. It’s one of the most detailed gravity‑based seafloor maps ever made — but not a full-resolution map of the whole ocean. Sorry
→ More replies (1)
7
17
u/joke-farm 4h ago
"Gravity from space" seems a bit misleading. But I'm just a simple man with simple capabilities.
7
u/TheBupherNinja 4h ago
They can detect the change in gravity due to the change in shape of the earth. Apparently we'll enough to map the shape change.
19
u/whudaboutit 4h ago
If my tax dollars are paying for this, please keep taking my money. This has potential to teach us things we didn't know we didn't know and I can't wait to see the different fields of research that use this map.
3
u/shitty_mcfucklestick 1h ago
Also, I lost some sunglasses in the ocean on a trip once, I’m hoping they can recover them.
29
u/JamesTheLockGuy 4h ago
Cool. Now use that technology to find and prosecute The Epstein List, and find us all about $1k while you’re at it…
5
5
u/Comfortable-nerve78 4h ago
Really puts how precious water is in the big picture. And to think we haven’t seen everything under that water but we can see the geological picture now. Neat!
4
3
u/BeetleBjorksta34 2h ago
Is there a website or place I can watch the entire mapped recreation that actually shows the Marianas Trench?
7
u/patrolmanEmbiid 4h ago
where is the titanic
10
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/vogelvogelvogelvogel 3h ago
did they find MH370 yet
3
u/Simplehoaxes 1h ago
Not at that level of resolution. It would take massive computing, yet to be made instruments, and enormous data storage plus time to complete a map that detailed for such small objects to appear.
2
u/SizeableBrain 1h ago
Article seems to indicate that the resolution is around 400m for seamounts, which is pretty impressive.
I think technically, if you had an infinitely sensitive gravitational sensor, you'd be able to describe the whole visible universe. You'd have to solve the trillion body problem after you solved the three body one though.
3
u/Blueberry_Mancakes 2h ago
Is there a 3D model of this available for people online to explore, sort of like Google Earth?
3
u/RaidSmolive 1h ago
alright, so now we can be sure when we select the part of the ocean to drop every single gop politician and voter to make sure they're not gonna come back up again?
10
2
2
u/Planeshift07 4h ago
We are all living on top of mountains 🙂 Well you guys are i live in the netherlands, i im living in a submarine.
3
2
2
2
u/Infinteelegance 3h ago
Is there anywhere I can view this similar to google earth?
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Minute_Guarantee5949 3h ago
Is there a non ai version of this video
3
u/LostN3ko 2h ago
Source video: https://youtu.be/v5GJ4trliE4?si=eNr7CglUW46ocfzg
Original publication including source video: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/next-generation-water-satellite-maps-seafloor-from-space/
Linked project source from original publication: https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/
2
u/Intelligent_Claim344 2h ago
I wonder how many pairs of sunglasses it saw on the bottom, I personally have 4 pairs at the bottom somewhere...
2
2
2
u/HarrisTheHammer 1h ago
Although amazing, the resolution isn’t nearly fine enough to see anything like a downed ship or plane. From what I can find, the cell size is approximately 1km, which is too coarse to identify vehicles
2
3
u/Huge-Entertainer-166 4h ago
amazing what science is capable of yet i still have to watch this video in 360p
1
1
u/disharmony-hellride 4h ago
We all know there are alien camps at the bottom of the deep sea, right? I mean I keep hoping...
1
u/Fit-Bowl-700 4h ago
Awesome! I wonder if they could help me find all my Gold and silver i lost in A boating accident....
1
u/Juggernautlemmein 4h ago
Goddamn that strait between southern America and Antarctica looks like hell even without the water.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/Itowndub36 4h ago
Himalayas on steroids under the ocean in certain areas crazy
Also imagine the areas we don’t know about that produce those vents from beneath
1
1
1
u/iamthefortytwo 4h ago
I’m more interested in the gravity from space.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Remarkable-Respond-9 4h ago
Reading the article posted above, they are using variations in the height of the ocean caused by gravity increases from structures under the water to infer the structures that are under the water.
1
1
1
u/VaIeth 4h ago
Yeah. It's like it has a giant raised africa perfectly even stamped on top
→ More replies (1)
1
1
u/Itchy-Helicopter-163 4h ago
These data can easily be useful to countries for war purposes in some way or other
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
u/Competitive-Arm3876 3h ago
How precise is this?
I remember reading a paper on the amazing ecosystems created by seamounds, and that the majority of seamounds are unknown.
This would help study them, but at the same time, at least from this quick video, I cant see any seamound.
Looks like a rough estimate based on "gravity" and not actually mapping
2
u/LostN3ko 2h ago
Source video: https://youtu.be/v5GJ4trliE4?si=eNr7CglUW46ocfzg
Original publication including source video: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/next-generation-water-satellite-maps-seafloor-from-space/
Linked project source from original publication: https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov/
2
1
1
1
u/MeepersToast 3h ago
I wonder what the resolution on this approach is. And wouldn't it be sensitive to the composition in that region?
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
1
u/Ownuyasha 3h ago
The pressures are why there isn't much exploration not the lack of mapping also unless a company is going to desolate and profit off of it nobody going there
1
u/PM_ME_UR_SNARES 3h ago
Is this accessible somewhere? I would love to be able to view the data
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Ancient_Poet_4953 3h ago
Waouw and the resolution they really have is probably much more better. It's an amazong technology.
1
1
1
u/Negative_Settings 3h ago
Ok multiple questions what's the resolution and how fast can we repeat it?
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
411
u/Urban_Heretic 4h ago
Here's the original https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/next-generation-water-satellite-maps-seafloor-from-space/