2023-04-22 20:32:27
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The scientists say their research results represent a significant advance in seafloor mapping.
An international team of oceanographers discovered 19.325 new submarine volcanoes in the world’s oceans, expanding the previous catalog that had 24.643 seamounts.
According to an article published in the journal Earth and Space Science, the researchers used data from radar satellites to measure the curvature of the ocean surface topography, or vertical gradient of gravity, to identify the presence of volcanoes on the ocean floor.
As detailed by the authors, they used a methodology known as empirical orthogonal function analysis to demonstrate that the identified seamounts have a basal radius linearly related to their height.
By fitting the topographic defect of the vertical gradient of gravity with a Gaussian function (in which the value of ‘a’ is the highest point of the volcano, ‘b’ represents the position of its center and ‘c’ the mean-absolute deviation-value related to the width of the volcano) it is possible to estimate the height of seamounts with a precision of regarding 270 meters.
The scientists point out that the results of their research represent a significant advance in the mapping of the seafloor, which will help oceanographers and geologists to better understand the behavior of plate tectonics and the planetary magnetic field.
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