Start Date: End Date: Published Date Data Date
JPEG
3600 x 1800 2 MB - JPEG
21600 x 10800 33 MB - PNG
10800 x 10800 31 MB - GeoTIFF
10800 x 10800 42 MB - GeoTIFF
10800 x 10800 33 MB - GeoTIFF
10800 x 10800 13 MB - GeoTIFF
10800 x 10800 35 MB - GeoTIFF
10800 x 10800 30 MB - GeoTIFF
10800 x 10800 36 MB - GeoTIFF
Bathymetry is a digital image of the undersea land surface and water depth. Bathymetry is the underwater equivalent of land topography. In the maps provided here, shading indicates changes in slope or depth. Much of the data on ocean bathymetry come from "soundings." To collect a sounding, scientists use sonar devices to emit a sound wave that passes into the water. By measuring how long it takes the sound wave to bounce off the ocean floor and return to the sonar, scientists can estimate the depth of the water. Other characteristics of the returned sound wave can help reveal the shape and size of features on the sea floor.
These images represent ocean depths between -8000m and 0m (surface). Land regions are black in the colored versions. The full resolution of these images has been broken up into tiles as listed below. To understand the naming scheme please read about our global image grid.
Imagery by Jesse Allen, NASA's Earth Observatory, using data from the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) produced by the British Oceanographic Data Centre.
Published July 21, 2005