Archaeology & History

New 3D scans show the Titanic like you've never seen it before

By T.K. Randall
May 19, 2023

Image: Titanic Wreck Bow
Credit: Courtesy of NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island (NOAA/IFE/URI). / (PD) Situated 13,000ft beneath the surface of the Atlantic, the wreck of the Titanic was discovered in 1985 and has since served as a humbling reminder of the disaster that claimed over 1,500 lives.

There have been several visitors to the wreck over the years, including movie director James Cameron who used some of the footage he captured in his 1997 blockbuster Titanic.

Now in a renewed bid to produce the most detailed ever digital model of the wreck, scientists at deep-sea mapping company Magellan Ltd - in conjunction with documentary filmmakers at Atlantic Productions - have recorded new high-resolution scans consisting of over 700,000 images.The resulting 3D computer model is breathtaking to say the least.

Expedition planner Gerhard Seiffert described the process as the largest underwater scanning project that the team had ever undertaken.

"The depth of it, almost 4,000m, represents a challenge, and you have currents at the site, too - and we're not allowed to touch anything so as not to damage the wreck," he said.

"And the other challenge is that you have to map every square centimeter - even uninteresting parts, like on the debris field you have to map mud, but you need this to fill in between all these interesting objects."


Source: BBC News

Tags: Titanic