Mariana Trench Dive Animation

The Mariana Trench includes the deepest place in the world's oceans, with its maximum depth of approximately 11 kilometers.

These animations strongly exaggerate the vertical dimension (the trench is almost five times wider than it is deep) to further enhance the visual effect. Colors used to depict the sea floor were chosen arbitrarily. The smaller downloadable files are lower in resolution.

Please credit NOAA/NGDC if you use these animations.

About the data:

NOAA/NGDC compiles, archives, and distributes data and derived science products describing the seafloor and sub-surface. Models of the sea floor serve as the basis for the animation like this one. These animations were produced from models developed with digital bathymetric data.

NGDC:

• Delivers public data describing the sea floor and sub-surface, including NOAA's National Ocean Service's nautical charting data
  
  
• Serves as a data archive for bathymetric data
  
  
• Develops scientific products, including representations of the sea floor, used for modeling coastal processes and habitats
  
  
• Provides ocean data through Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping (IOCM) Program with the motto of "Map Once, Use Many Times"
  
  
• Partners with U.S. academia, including the Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R), to make NOAA, university, and other deep-ocean data available
  
  

More about the images:

These animations were produced by Dr. Peter Sloss (now retired) of NGDC. Various versions of these videos have appeared on CNN, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel. Each downloadable animation contains additional sequences showing the location of the Trench.

external link to more about the Challenger Deep