China says it has dramatically improved its ability to chart the ocean floor, producing detailed seabed maps that outperform widely used global models in both resolution and accuracy, according to the South China Morning Post.
The advance is the product of more than two decades of work by a research group led by Professor Wu Ziyin at the Second Institute of Oceanography. Rather than relying on a single new survey, the scientists found ways to reconcile huge amounts of older information collected by different vessels, instruments and mapping systems. The result is a much sharper digital picture of the underwater landscape around China, including parts of the contested South China Sea.
Researchers say their maps offer roughly double the resolution of leading global alternatives and can be two to five times more accurate. That improvement can reveal smaller underwater formations and pinpoint their locations more precisely...information with applications ranging from offshore energy and earthquake research to navigation, resource exploration and military operations.
The strategic importance of knowing what lies beneath the surface became particularly clear in 2021, when the USS Connecticut struck an underwater mountain while operating submerged in the South China Sea. Eleven sailors were injured and the nuclear-powered submarine suffered significant damage. While a US Navy investigation faulted the crew’s voyage planning, the incident also illustrated the dangers posed by gaps in existing seabed charts.
SCMP writes that China has meanwhile worked to reduce its dependence on foreign ocean-survey technology. The program produced domestically designed multi-beam sonar equipment along with autonomous underwater vehicles capable of surveying at depths approaching 6,000 metres. Wu said China had once depended heavily on imported systems but now produces comparable equipment at a fraction of the cost.
“Our equipment breaks the monopoly of Western countries, with leading performance,” Wu said.
The broader project has also catalogued 769 underwater geographic features, many given names inspired by Chinese history, mythology and literature. China plans to publish an English-language version of its seabed atlas, while its marine surveying technology has already found commercial and government applications and has reportedly been exported to Russia, Japan and Singapore.
Wu characterized the transition from foreign dependence to domestic production as “a true qualitative leap.”
The achievement comes as much of the ocean floor remains surprisingly poorly documented. Less than 30% of the world's oceans have been surveyed in detail, meaning the majority of Earth's underwater terrain is still inadequately mapped.