Gravity reveals seafloor

Scientists from Scripps Institute of Oceanography at University California San Diego used altimetry measurements from ESA’s CryoSat mission and from the CNES–NASA Jason-1 satellite to create a new marine gravity map – twice as accurate as the previous version produced nearly 20 years ago.  CryoSat’s main task is to measure the elevation of the world’s ice but its altimetry measurements acquired over oceans measure sea-surface height, and this can be used to create global marine gravity models and, from them, eventually derive maps of the seafloor. The new gravity map exposes thousands of previously unchartered seamounts, ridges and deep ocean structures. Read full article.