https://www.sciencenews.org/article/satellite-data-unknown-oceans-sea-mountains Skip to content Subscribe or renew today Every print subscription comes with full digital access Subscribe / Renew now Menu * All Topics + Life + Humans + Earth + Space + Physics + Coronavirus * Magazine * Century of Science * Menu + All Stories + Multimedia + Reviews + Collections + For Educators + Coronavirus Outbreak * About * For Students * Donate Science News INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM SINCE 1921 Search [ ] Open search Close search Science News INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM SINCE 1921 * All Topics + Earth o Agriculture o Climate o Oceans o Environment + Humans o Anthropology o Health & Medicine o Archaeology o Psychology + Life o Animals o Plants o Ecosystems o Paleontology o Neuroscience o Genetics o Microbes + Physics o Materials Science o Quantum Physics o Particle Physics + Space o Astronomy o Planetary Science o Cosmology + Tech o Computing o Artificial Intelligence + Chemistry + Math + Science & Society All Topics * Life + Life o Animals o Plants o Ecosystems o Paleontology o Neuroscience o Genetics o Microbes + o Neuroscience Neuroscientists decoded people's thoughts using brain scans By Laura Sanders7 hours ago o Health & Medicine Mouse hair turns gray when certain stem cells get stuck By Tina Hesman Saey11 hours ago o Genetics Here are 5 cool findings from a massive project on 240 mammal genomes By Meghan RosenApril 27, 2023 * Humans + Humans o Anthropology o Health & Medicine o Archaeology o Psychology + o Health & Medicine Mouse hair turns gray when certain stem cells get stuck By Tina Hesman Saey11 hours ago o Health & Medicine Fentanyl deaths have spiked among U.S. children and teens By Aimee CunninghamApril 28, 2023 o Genetics Here are 5 cool findings from a massive project on 240 mammal genomes By Meghan RosenApril 27, 2023 * Earth + Earth o Agriculture o Climate o Oceans o Environment + o Oceans Satellite data reveal nearly 20,000 previously unknown deep-sea mountains By Katherine KorneiApril 30, 2023 o Climate Thawing permafrost may unleash industrial pollution across the Arctic By Nikk OgasaApril 26, 2023 o Plants Ultrasound reveals trees' drought-survival secrets By Katherine BourzacApril 25, 2023 * Space + Space o Astronomy o Planetary Science o Cosmology + o Planetary Science Seismic waves crossing Mars' core reveal details of the Red Planet's heart By Nikk OgasaApril 24, 2023 o Space Rocky planets might have been able to form in the early universe By Allison GaspariniApril 24, 2023 o Astronomy Cosmic antimatter hints at origins of huge bubbles in our galaxy's center By Lisa GrossmanApril 20, 2023 * Physics + Physics o Materials Science o Quantum Physics o Particle Physics + o Physics Black holes resolve paradoxes by destroying quantum states By Lisa GrossmanApril 28, 2023 o Physics These worms can escape tangled blobs in an instant. Here's how By Emily ConoverApril 27, 2023 o Quantum Physics A sapphire Schrodinger's cat shows that quantum effects can scale up By Emily ConoverApril 25, 2023 * Coronavirus News Oceans Satellite data reveal nearly 20,000 previously unknown deep-sea mountains The find roughly doubles the number of known seamounts in Earth's oceans An elevation image of Kelvin Seamount, in a rainbow of color with purple at the bottom and red at the top, on a black background. Ship-mounted sonar reveals how Kelvin Seamount, off the coast of Massachusetts, rises from the seafloor (purple and blue denote low elevation while red is high). A new mapping technique based on satellite data has found thousands of previously unknown undersea mountains. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Share this: * Email * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Pocket * Reddit * Print By Katherine Kornei April 30, 2023 at 7:00 am The number of known mountains in Earth's oceans has roughly doubled. Global satellite observations have revealed nearly 20,000 previously unknown seamounts, researchers report in the April Earth and Space Science. Just as mountains tower over Earth's surface, seamounts also rise above the ocean floor. The tallest mountain on Earth, as measured from base to peak, is Mauna Kea, which is part of the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain. These underwater edifices are often hot spots of marine biodiversity (SN: 10/7/16). That's in part because their craggy walls -- formed from volcanic activity -- provide a plethora of habitats. Seamounts also promote upwelling of nutrient-rich water, which distributes beneficial compounds like nitrates and phosphates throughout the water column. They're like "stirring rods in the ocean," says David Sandwell, a geophysicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. More than 24,600 seamounts have been previously mapped. One common way of finding these hidden mountains is to ping the seafloor with sonar (SN: 4/16/21). But that's an expensive, time-intensive process that requires a ship. Only about 20 percent of the ocean has been mapped that way, says Scripps earth scientist Julie Gevorgian. "There are a lot of gaps." So Gevorgian, Sandwell and their colleagues turned to satellite observations, which provide global coverage of the world's oceans, to take a census of seamounts. The team pored over satellite measurements of the height of the sea surface. The researchers looked for centimeter-scale bumps caused by the gravitational influence of a seamount. Because rock is denser than water, the presence of a seamount slightly changes the Earth's gravitational field at that spot. "There's an extra gravitational attraction," Sandwell says, that causes water to pile up above the seamount. Using that technique, the team spotted 19,325 previously unknown seamounts. The researchers compared some of their observations with sonar maps of the seafloor to confirm that the newly discovered seamounts were likely real. Most of the newly discovered underwater mountains are on the small side -- between roughly 700 and 2,500 meters tall, the researchers estimate. However, it's possible that some could pose a risk to mariners. "There's a point when they're shallow enough that they're within the depth range of submarines," says David Clague, a marine geologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, Calif., who was not involved in the research. In 2021, the USS Connecticut, a nuclear submarine, ran into an uncharted seamount in the South China Sea. The vessel is still undergoing repairs at a shipyard in Washington state. Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us at feedback@sciencenews.org | Reprints FAQ Citations J. Gevorgian et al. Global distribution and morphology of small seamounts. Earth and Space Science. Vol. 10, April 2023. doi: 10.1029 /2022EA002331. This article was supported by readers like you. Our mission is to provide accurate, engaging news of science to the public. That mission has never been more important than it is today. As a nonprofit news organization, we cannot do it without you. Your support enables us to keep our content free and accessible to the next generation of scientists and engineers. Invest in quality science journalism by donating today. Donate Now [cards-330x66] Related Stories 1. Hawaii Map Earth Plate loss gave chain of Pacific islands and seamounts a bend By Thomas SumnerMarch 31, 2015 2. [sn-fallback] Earth Volcanic Hot Spots By Sid PerkinsJuly 1, 2005 3. Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument Oceans First U.S. ocean monument named in the Atlantic By Thomas SumnerSeptember 15, 2016 More Stories from Science News on Oceans 1. 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