'Factorian Deep,' the new deepest point in Antarctica's Southern Ocean, mapped for the first time

The ocean's new deepest point, known as the "Factorian Deep," is the most detailed map of the southern ocean to date.

The Factorian Deep is located at a depth equivalent to 17 Empire State Buildings and was discovered in 2019. The Factorian Deep was piloted by Vescovo to the bottom of the South Sandwich Trench, an underwater canyon that spans roughly 600 miles between South America andAntarctica.

The Atlantic and Southern oceans are separated by 60 degrees south of the equator by the trench. The entire length of the South Sandwich Trench was mapped for the first time by Vescovo.

The Factorian Deep has never been documented before on a map. An international team of researchers included the Factorian Deep in a new map of the Southern Ocean.

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean and the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project are working together to create a massive map of the ocean.

Science vessels from around the world and the sturdy ice-breaking ships that cut a path for them are the main contributors to the new map. The coverage of the sea bottom chart is more than double that of the first map of the region.

The project still has a lot of work to be done. If you divide the chart's 18 million square miles into 5,382 square feet of squares, only 23% of them would have a modern depth measurement.

All ships that pass through the Southern Ocean are encouraged to turn on their sonars and help the project.

It's important to see the quirks of the Southern Ocean for a number of reasons. The maps are useful for navigation, but they will also benefit biological research by showing the locations of the seamounts, which are known to be home to a lot of underwater flora and fauna. Climate models that show how oceans move heat around the planet are influenced by how deep the ocean is.

It was originally published on Live Science