Editing Geographical exploration (section)

===Status===
According to NOAA, as of January 2023: "More than eighty percent of our ocean is unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored."  Less than 10% of the ocean, including about 35% of the ocean and coastal waters of the United States, have been mapped in any detail using sonar technology.<ref name="NOAA/NOS" /> According to GEBCO 2019 data, less than 18% of the deep ocean bed has been mapped using direct measurement and about 50% of coastal waters were not yet surveyed.<ref name="IHO DCDB" />

Most of the data used to create global seabed maps are approximate depths derived from satellite gravity measurements and sea surface heights which are affected by the shape and mass distribution of the seabed. This method of approximation only provides low resolution information on large topographical features, and can miss significant features.<ref name="NCEI" />