How to hold the entire ocean in your hands

Got global bathymetric data? Check? Got a 3D printer? Check. Then you can make yourself a model of the ocean that you can hold in your hand!

This graphic artist chose not to visualize the nooks and crannies on the sea floor, but the volume of water that makes up our oceans. As a kid I was addicted to my family’s copy of the National Geographic Atlas from the early 80′s.  Especially the maps of ocean bathymetry. In these maps,you could see all the wonderful bumps that populate the bottom of the ocean: seamounts, ridges, trenches, slopes, shelves, ledges, everything! You can see all these features, just flipped from the normal perspective which is so very, very cool.  I just need to get my hands on a 3D printer and make one now.

Visualising GEBCO: A new way of seeing the global oceans (2009) from Peter Morse on Vimeo.

Learn more about the GEneral Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) here.