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Source: ONE News -
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The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) is using a state of the art ultrasound device to map a clearer picture of New Zealand's ocean floor.
NIWA said there was a gap in research and knowledge about the shape of the sea floor and sealife.
So NIWA began the project to discover what lies within New Zealand's oceans.
NIWA Marine Data Manager Kevin Mackay said an echo sounder was deployed using acoustics to measure the sea bed.
"It sends out a pulse of sound that goes through the water, returns an echo off the sea floor, which gets sent back to the echo sounder, which listens for it," Mackay said.
NIWA hopes mapping will provide scientists with a clearer picture of offshore faultlines hidden by the sea.
And Mackay said mapping the sea floor will help people better prepare for earthquakes and tsunamis.
"The shape of the sea floor determines how a tsunami actually travels and behaves.
"We can use the map of the sea floor to model future events like from tsunamis or storm surges," he said.
NIWA Marine Geologist Scott Nodder said mapping the seafloor can also help determine which species are endangered and need to be protected.
"If you don't know what's there, then you don't know what to protect, you don't know what impact activities might actually have on those communities," he said.
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