How do we know so little about the ocean?
We know so little about the ocean primarily due to the immense challenges of exploring its vast, deep, and often hostile environments.
Despite covering over 70% of our planet, the ocean remains largely a mystery. A significant portion, over 80% of the global ocean and 50% of the U.S. Ocean, is still unmapped and even more remains entirely unexplored. This limited knowledge stems from several formidable obstacles that make deep-sea exploration particularly difficult.
Key Challenges in Ocean Exploration:
- Immense Pressures: One of the most significant hurdles is the intense pressures found in the deep ocean. As depth increases, the weight of the water above creates crushing forces that require highly specialized and incredibly robust equipment to withstand.
- Zero Visibility: Deep-sea environments often suffer from zero visibility. Without sunlight, and with suspended particles, it becomes extremely difficult to see and navigate, hindering direct observation and mapping efforts.
- Extreme Cold Temperatures: The vast majority of the ocean, especially at deeper levels, experiences extreme cold temperatures. This poses engineering challenges for equipment and limits the endurance of human-operated vehicles and even robotic probes.
These combined factors—the sheer scale of the unexplored area, the crushing pressures, the lack of light, and freezing conditions—make ocean exploration a complex and resource-intensive endeavor, contributing to our limited understanding of this critical part of our planet.
