Scientists Identify Thousands of Submerged Mountains on Seabed

Using advanced remote-sensing technology scientists have identified tens of thousands of submerged mountains rising from the world’s seabeds, the strongest evidence to date of how common these features are in the oceans. While researchers have previously explored about 200 seamounts, the new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Texas A&M University estimates that there are more than 45,000 seamounts on the ocean floor. Worldwide, these seamounts cover 17.9 million square miles — an area larger than the entire continent of South America. The calculations are based on satellite altimetry data that measures extremely small changes in the height of sea surfaces. “Unlike beaches or even coral reefs, most people will never see a seamount, but this study shows that they are clearly one of the predominant ecosystems on the planet,” said Peter Etnoyer, a NOAA marine biologist and lead investigator of the study published in the journal Oceanography. The researchers described seamounts as biodiversity hotspots, with greater abundance and variety of life than the surrounding sea floor. More than two dozen new species of coral and sponges have been discovered since 2002 during the exploration of seamounts in the Gulf of Alaska.