One-fifth of Earth’s ocean floor has now been mapped

Nearly a fifth of the world’s entire ocean floor has now been mapped, with the new data equating to an area twice the size of Australia

A group, working to create a full map of Earth’s ocean floor by 2030, has said that nearly one-fifth or 19% of this task has been completed.

In 2017, the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project had surveyed  only 6% of the global ocean bottom. Now, the number stands at 19%, up from 15% in just the last year.

The Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, Mr Yohei Sasakawa, recently announced three initiatives that need further collaborative activity in accelerating the mapping of the ocean floor,  these include supporting the mapping of unexplored areas, collecting data through crowdsourcing, and advancing technology for data collection.

The initiative has been helped by 133 contributors, partners and supporters.