Whats the seafloor look like?
Figure 1 is a computer-generated image of the seafloor west of San Francisco, from north of Point Reyes to south of Monterey. This three-dimensional view shows the bathymetry of the seafloor; that is, the variations in depth from place to place. To highlight variations, depths are color-coded from light tan (shallow area near the coast) to blue (deep areas far from the coast). Detailed data are not available for the area west of the black line. Figure 2 is another computer-generated image of the seafloor, in this case showing the bathymetry of Monterey Bay. As in Figure 1, the bathymetry is shown as a three-dimensional image and depths are color coded. Depths are also shown by contour lines, each of which corresponds to parts of the ocean with equal depths. The depth interval between each contour line is 100 meters. Figure 3 is a map of the seafloor directly west of San Francisco. The depths on this image are shown with bathymetric contour lines but no three-dimensional perspective. Co
