The hills are formed by magma eruptions along mid-ocean ridges. They are common features of the ocean floor but among the hardest to detect. A new technique using gravity-driven water movement has significantly improved their identification.
Researchers from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have mapped over 200,000 abyssal hills using the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite. The satellite measures ocean height with centimeter-level precision by capturing reflections and tracking water fluctuations caused by variations in gravity, enabling more accurate ocean floor mapping.
These hills, which cover over 70% of the ocean floor, form in mid-ocean ridges where magma creates new oceanic crust. The satellite has also identified thousands of seamounts up to 450 meters tall, which influence ocean current circulation. In previously underexplored regions such as Antarctica and the Canadian Arctic, researchers uncovered unusual structures linked to ancient rifting and plate movements.
“This is a huge leap. The scale of things you can see is fantastic,” one researcher noted, highlighting the potential of this breakthrough in ocean floor mapping.
The Pentagon has expressed interest in the findings, as abyssal hills pose a navigational hazard for submarines, including nuclear-powered ones.
