Nearly a quarter of Earth's seafloor now mapped

[Eldorado]

Slowly but surely the proportion of the global ocean floor that's been properly mapped is rising.

It's now up to just shy of a quarter of the total area under water - at 23.4%.

Better seafloor maps help us with navigation and conservation, among many other uses.

Some 10 million sq km (3.8 million sq miles) of new bathymetric (depth) data was added in the past year. This is an area broadly equivalent to the land surface of Europe.

The update was given at the second UN Ocean Conference, taking place this week in Lisbon, Portugal.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61986359