Experts warn vs knowing more about the Moon than Earth’s ocean floor

Lack of knowledge about the ocean floor is inflicting a heavy cost in oil exploration, fishery management, and plane crash investigations, experts said. Even though two-thirds of Earth is covered in water, less than 10% of the floor of oceans deeper than 200 meters (721 feet) has been mapped in detail, according to the International Hydrographic Organization. Ignorance of ocean-floor topography has practical consequences, the experts said. “Waiting until a plane crashes to start surveying is too late,” said Walter Smith, a geophysicist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “There is no reason why we should know more about the surface of the Moon than the bottom of the oceans,” Francoise Gaill of France’s National Centre for Scientific Research said in a presentation to mark World Oceans Day.

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