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Phoenix666 writes:

http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2016/01/07/the-floor-of-the-ocean-comes-into-better-focus/

The bottom of the ocean just keeps getting better. Or at least more interesting to look at.

In an ongoing project, mappers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have been gathering data from hundreds of research cruises and turning it all into accessible maps of the ocean floor with resolutions down to 25 meters.

You can see some of the results here, at a mapping site that allows scientists—and you—to zero in on a particular location, zoom in and download topographical maps of the ocean floor. The Lamont data has also contributed to the latest version of Google ocean map, which now offers its own more closely resolved view of the ocean floor globally. (You can take a quick tour of the updated Google map here.)
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Those measurements allowed researchers to discover a new "microplate" in the Indian Ocean—a remnant from the crustal shifts that sent the Indian subcontinent crashing into Eurasia, creating (and still forming) the Himalaya mountains. Researchers studying that plate have come up with a more precise date for when that collision began, 47.3 million years ago.

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fx_68 writes:

The Mariana Trench is located in the Western Pacific Ocean; it’s deeper than Mount Everest is tall and remains one of the biggest mysteries on Earth. Humanity officially has more information about Mars than it does about this part of our own planet, study lead Xiao-Hua Zhang explained. Mariana Trench (about 36,000 ft down) and discovered a new group of bacteria that degrades hydrocarbons, which are the primary components in substances like natural gas and petroleum.

This category of bacteria isn’t new — these microorganisms are found in many places and contribute to the degradation of oil that results from things like oil spills. However, The study found that the Mariana Trench is home to the highest proportion of these microorganisms on Earth.

What, exactly, is this deep sea bacteria feeding on? The researchers found biologically-produced hydrocarbons in ocean sediment from the trench’s bottom, as well as in the sea water around 19,600ft below the surface. The scientists suspect the hydrocarbons can be found in water at lower depths, as well. This is the first time these hydrocarbons have been found in microbes at that depth.

https://www.slashgear.com/oil-eating-bacteria-has-been-discovered-in-the-deepest-part-of-the-ocean-11572963/

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"upstart" writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow4463

Teams autonomously mapping the depths take home millions in Ocean Discovery Xprize

There’s a whole lot of ocean on this planet, and we don’t have much of an idea what’s at the bottom of most of it. That could change with the craft and techniques created during the Ocean Discovery Xprize, which had teams competing to map the sea floor quickly, precisely and autonomously. The winner just took home $4 million.

A map of the ocean would be valuable in and of itself, of course, but any technology used to do so could be applied in many other ways, and who knows what potential biological or medical discoveries hide in some nook or cranny a few thousand fathoms below the surface?

The prize, sponsored by Shell, started back in 2015. The goal was, ultimately, to create a system that could map hundreds of square kilometers of the sea floor at a five-meter resolution in less than a day — oh, and everything has to fit in a shipping container. For reference, existing methods do nothing like this, and are tremendously costly.

But as is usually the case with this type of competition, the difficulty did not discourage the competitors — it only spurred them on. Since 2015, then, the teams have been working on their systems and traveling all over the world to test them.

Originally the teams were to test in Puerto Rico, but after the devastating hurricane season of 2017, the whole operation was moved to the Greek coast. Ultimately after the finalists were selected, they deployed their craft in the waters off Kalamata and told them to get mapping.

“It was a very arduous and audacious challenge,” said Jyotika Virmani, who led the program. “The test itself was 24 hours, so they had to stay up, then immediately following that was 48 hours of data processing after which they had to give us the data. It takes more trad companies about 2 weeks or so to process data for a map once they have the raw data — we’re pushing for real time.”