New sonar tool is a ‘game changer’ for mapping the seafloor

Amazing stuff! Terra incognita! What lurks beneath!

"An emerging sonar technology that scans the seafloor at centimeter-scale resolution is dazzling researchers with its potential. Commercial synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) devices, originally developed by the military to identify explosive mines, are now being deployed by scientists ...

Only a Rhode Island–size patch of the world’s deep-sea floors has been observed up close, according to a study ... That imaged area is likely to grow with the adoption of SAS, which can efficiently reveal fine details in wide swaths of the sea floor, unmasking its biology and geology. ...

SAS is analogous to the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems on satellites that are increasingly being used to map Earth’s surface. In SAR, a moving beam source focuses multiple “pings” on a single point on Earth’s surface. The radar reflections are stitched together to create a picture equivalent to one taken by a much larger aperture antenna. SAS does the same thing with sound instead of radio waves. ..."

From the abstract:

"Despite the importance of visual observation in the ocean, we have imaged a minuscule fraction of the deep seafloor. Sixty-six percent of the entire planet is deep ocean (≥200 m), and our data show that we have visually observed less than 0.001%, a total area approximately a tenth of the size of Belgium. Data gathered from approximately 44,000 deep-sea dives indicate that we have also seen an incredibly biased sample.

Sixty-five percent of all in situ visual seafloor observations in our dataset were within 200 nm of only three countries: the United States, Japan, and New Zealand. Ninety-seven percent of all dives we compiled have been conducted by just five countries: the United States, Japan, New Zealand, France, and Germany. This small and biased sample is problematic when attempting to characterize, understand, and manage a global ocean."

New sonar tool is a ‘game changer’ for mapping the sea floor | Science | AAAS "Devices that mimic giant acoustic cameras can spy animal burrows, explosive mines, and metallic deposits"

How little we’ve seen: A visual coverage estimate of the deep seafloor (open access, this article is not really related to SAS)

A shipwreck off the coast of Nantucket in Massachusetts was imaged with synthetic aperture sonar.

Pioneering study aims to enable humans to talk to Sperm whales

Amazing stuff!

Update as of 4/30/2021: Talking with whales Project aims to translate sperm whale calls

"... The new interdisciplinary Cetacean Translation Initiative (CETI) kicks off this week at a press conference in Dominica in the Caribbean, where the project will take place. University of Haifa scientists will be joined by colleagues in marine biology, marine acoustics, artificial intelligence, and linguistics from Harvard University, The City University of New York (CUNY), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Imperial College London, U.C. Berkeley and others. ...
The Sperm whale, which is considered a vulnerable species, has the largest brain on Earth, more than five times heavier than a human’s. Like humans, it also has a complex communication system and lives in tightly knit family groups. ..."

"Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) is a transdisciplinary research initiative bringing together leading technologists, roboticists, cryptographers, linguists, and marine scientists to study the communication of the world’s largest toothed predator: the sperm whale.
In the late 1960s [not very long ago], scientists, including Dr. Roger Payne, a guiding member and principal advisor of Project CETI discovered that whales sing to one another. His recordings, Songs of the Humpback Whale, sparked the “Save the Whales” movement, one of the most successful conservation initiatives. ..."

Pioneering study aims to enable humans to talk to whales - ISRAEL21c In an ambitious five year project, top Israel, US and UK research institutes plan to learn how to communicate with Sperm whales. What WILL they talk about?

The project website: https://www.projectceti.org/

Why An Undersea Space Station Is Long Overdue

Recommendable! We still know so little about our oceans! The oceans are still largely terra incognita!

Previously Unknown Beaked Whale Species Spotted off Mexico

How is this possible that in the year 2020, we still discover new animals of the size of a whale?

Contrast that with the daily bombardment with reports of the "settled" science of the Global Warming hoax and Climate Change religion!

Previously Unknown Beaked Whale Species Spotted off Mexico | The Scientist Magazine® A team of scientists searching for a rare species of whale instead found a species of whale they say has never been recorded.

Study of Ugandan Genomes Yields Novel Variants

Very recommendable!

In terms of genetics, Africa is still terra incognita! When will the scramble for African DNA begin?

"A project that analyzed the genomes of rural Ugandans uncovered a raft of genetic variants and other findings with implications for human health, researchers report today (October 31) in Cell. Relatively few genomic studies to date have focused on Africans [incredible!], and the new results demonstrate the value of doing so, the authors say.  ... Uganda is a melting pot of different cultures and languages ... Among the group’s findings were that a genetic variant found in 22 percent of Africans that is protective against malaria affects the blood levels of a marker called glycated hemoglobin. Glycated hemoglobin levels are used to diagnose diabetes, meaning that diabetes testing may be less effective for some people of African descent ... genetics are less important for determining height in Ugandans than in Europeans—but that Ugandans’ genes have a relatively greater effect on LDL cholesterol levels"

Study of Ugandan Genomes Yields Novel Variants, Health Links | The Scientist Magazine®: The authors say their results demonstrate the global benefits of studying African genetics.