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There is no way that the nuclear submarine fleets of the world's countries haven't mapped a significant portion of the seabed since the 1980s when the advanced

There is no way that the nuclear submarine fleets of the world's countries haven't mapped a significant portion of the seabed since the 1980s when the advanced techniques were invented. I don't see why that data should be held classified, at least make this project a little bit easier.

deleted 7y ago
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techfocususer 7y ago
Yep. The Navy already has an extensive map of the ocean floor
jonknee 7y ago
> I don't see why that data should be held classified, at least make this project a little bit easier. Really, you don't see why the military would want to keep the strategic advantage of keeping what they know about the sea floor secret?
- mcbits 7y ago
  I think it should be all be declassified for the public good, but I can understand why they would want to keep it classified: by revealing where they've mapped, they reveal where they've been. Quality variations in different parts of the map could also reveal where they spend more time, or at what depths. But I'm skeptical that it really matters.
  - Razengan 7y ago
    Or they awoke eldritch leviathans who now command them.
    - homonculus1 7y ago
      Nothing is Beyond Their Reach
      - Razengan 7y ago
        Reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA-247 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA-247
- eternalny1 7y ago
  > Really, you don't see why the military would want to keep the strategic advantage of keeping what they know about the sea floor secret? It's all about to be "de-classified" anyway once the first of these sort of projects kicks off.
m463 7y ago
I thought woods hole "serpedipitously discovered" a lot of stuff.
rtkwe 7y ago
Subs don't typically dive that deep only a few hundred (US Los Angeles class) to 2000 or so (US Seawolf class) (of course this is stated depth but speculation gets us nowhere). The ocean averages over 3.5 km deep so most of it is beyond the range of subs so they probably have pretty good maps of up to the continental shelf but beyond that it gets less useful.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

techfocususer 7y ago

Yep. The Navy already has an extensive map of the ocean floor

jonknee 7y ago

> I don't see why that data should be held classified, at least make this project a little bit easier. Really, you don't see why the military would want to keep the strategic advantage of keeping what they know about the sea floor secret?

mcbits 7y ago
I think it should be all be declassified for the public good, but I can understand why they would want to keep it classified: by revealing where they've mapped, they reveal where they've been. Quality variations in different parts of the map could also reveal where they spend more time, or at what depths. But I'm skeptical that it really matters.
- Razengan 7y ago
  Or they awoke eldritch leviathans who now command them.
  - homonculus1 7y ago
    Nothing is Beyond Their Reach
    - Razengan 7y ago
      Reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA-247 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA-247
eternalny1 7y ago
> Really, you don't see why the military would want to keep the strategic advantage of keeping what they know about the sea floor secret? It's all about to be "de-classified" anyway once the first of these sort of projects kicks off.

m463 7y ago

I thought woods hole "serpedipitously discovered" a lot of stuff.

rtkwe 7y ago

Subs don't typically dive that deep only a few hundred (US Los Angeles class) to 2000 or so (US Seawolf class) (of course this is stated depth but speculation gets us nowhere). The ocean averages over 3.5 km deep so most of it is beyond the range of subs so they probably have pretty good maps of up to the continental shelf but beyond that it gets less useful.