Ocean Maps from Google - Explore Vast Oceans at Home

Since ancient times, man has been enticed by the great riches and secrets of the ocean. This has often compelled him to explore the deep seas to find the hidden treasures, mysterious monsters or long lost ancient cities. Wouldn't it be exciting if you had a chance to do the same? What if I said that you can do it right now without leaving the comforts of your home?

Google recently launched a feature to their famous Google Earth application that allows you to explore the ocean depths. Now you can explore the world's oceans just by clicking your mouse without having to board any type of ship. Let's have a look at the different features Google's new ocean data provides.

The new deep-ocean views work in the same way as the land views provided by the popular 3-D mapping tool Google Earth. Google Ocean allows you to virtually dive into the oceans and explore every square mile of mysterious depths. Up until now you would have only heard about the under water volcanoes, mountains that are ten times the size of Everest and endless deep dark ravines, but now you can actually explore and see them with unprecedented clarity.

For those who are fascinated by the mysteries of the lost world and treasure laden ship wrecks, the ocean data allows them to plunge into the sea and explore the intriguing sites themselves. Not only that, it allows you to view the melting glaciers at the poles and track down the Mid-Ocean ridge, the 30,000 mile long mountain range, the longest in the world.

Google Ocean also allows you to thoroughly explore interesting marine life. Now you can see thousands of marine species and even keep a track of whales and sharks in their natural habitat. The ocean feature also allows you to actually follow marine animals tagged with satellite tracking devices. The blue 3D world not only inpires awe but also helps to provide awareness regarding the issues affecting marine life. Google Earth now offers hundreds of photographs and videos of unknown and endangered marine species which you might be seeing or hearing about for the first time while you view the underwater worlds.

This virtual marine world has been created with the help of some of the best scientists and oceanographers in the world.

Now those coral reefs are not unreachable anymore.

Google's ocean maps have become quite popular because of the distinct features it provides. This has been the reason for it being in news several times since its release in February 2009.

It's been discovered that the satellite tracking system of Google Ocean is so strong that it is able to locate even the tiniest phytoplankton which provides a major contribution to the ocean's food chain. Not only that, it has also been able to locate the sites of Algal Blooms on the ocean floor.

Recently, there was a lot of buzz about Google Earch due to the discovery of grid like pattens on the ocean floor which were spotted off the coast of northwest Africa near Canary Island, the proposed location for the lost city of Atlantis. This grid-like pattern was proposed to be the remains of the lost City of Atlantis. Some even speculated the grid pattern as sea-floor farming by aliens.

Google denied the speculations and came up with it's own scientific explanation. You can read more about it here: Lost city of Atlantis?

So want to start your exploration now? Download Google Ocean for free here - Google Ocean

http://earth.google.com/ocean/

Has google Ocean uncovered Atlantis by Matt McGee

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/atlantis-no-it-atlant-isn't.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com

Image Credits:

http://itn.co.uk/news/storyc2cf4a9146d437e452861bafc132fde1_320x240.jpg

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45437000/jpg/_45437262_google_512.jpg

http://i.pricerunner.com/images/i/theinsider/500x500/Google_ocean.jpg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/1/7/1231296880873/A-coral-seen-off-Jarvis-I-002.jpg

http://www.t3.com/images/variants/google_ocean_t3_w300.jpg

http://news.nationalgeographic.com