+ Visit NASA.gov + Advanced Search   + About the Server   + Animation List   + How to Use the Server   + RSS Feeds   + Podcasts   + Opportunities Previous Animation Next Animation Draining the Oceans Three fifths of the Earth's surface is under the ocean, and the ocean floor is as rich in detail as the land surface with which we are familiar. This animation simulates a drop in sea level that gradually reveals this detail. As the sea level drops, the continental shelves appear immediately. They are mostly visible by a depth of 140 meters, except for the Arctic and Antarctic regions, where the shelves are deeper. The mid-ocean ridges start to appear at a depth of 2000 to 3000 meters. By 6000 meters, most of the ocean is drained except for the deep ocean trenches, the deepest of which is the Marianas Trench at a depth of 10,911 meters.    Animation of the draining of the Earth's oceans. The first frame indicates no decrease and the second frame drains all water above sea level. Each subsequent frame represents a 10 meter drop in the level of the Earth's oceans. The high resolution frames labeled 'Mask' can be used with the individual images below to create higher resolution versions of this animation. Duration: 34.0 seconds Available formats:   1024x512 (30 fps) MPEG-4   20 MB   1024x512   PNG           629 KB   320x160     PNG           214 KB   160x80       PNG           60 KB   80x40         PNG           16 KB   1024x512   Frames (NoDates)   4096x2048 Frames (Mask) How to play our movies This product is available through our Web Map Service.   Click here to learn more.    Animation of ocean draining with sea level annotation. Duration: 34.0 seconds Available formats:   1024x512 (30 fps) MPEG-4   20 MB   1024x512   PNG           635 KB   1024x512   Frames (Dates)   320x160     PNG           215 KB How to play our movies This product is available through our Web Map Service.   Click here to learn more.    Shaded relief image of the Earth's topography and bathymetry Available formats:   4096 x 2048     PNG 10 MB   320 x 160         PNG     248 KB This product is available through our Web Map Service.   Click here to learn more.    Next Generation Blue Marble image for July subsampled to match the shaded relief map. Available formats:   4096 x 2048     PNG   4 MB   320 x 160         PNG     131 KB This product is available through our Web Map Service.   Click here to learn more.    Land-sea mask matching the Blue Marble image above. Available formats:   4096 x 2048     PNG     320 KB   320 x 160         PNG       43 KB This product is available through our Web Map Service.   Click here to learn more. Animation Number: 3487 Completed: 2007-12-19 Animator: Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC) (Lead) Platforms/Sensors/Data Sets: Terra and Aqua/MODIS/Blue Marble: Next Generation   2-minute Gridded Global Relief Data Keywords: DLESE >> Physical geography DLESE >> Physical oceanography GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Oceans >> Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography >> Bathymetry GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Oceans >> Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography >> Continental Margins GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Oceans >> Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography >> Seafloor Topography GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Oceans >> Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography >> Trenches     Please give credit for this item to: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Geophysical Data Center, 2006, 2-minute Gridded Global Relief Data (ETOPO2v2) - http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/fliers/06mgg01.html The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC). Back to Top + Privacy Policy and Important Notices + Reproduction Guidelines NASA Official: Content Contact: Curator: