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| Hanuka |
 Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 9:31 am Post subject: Earth exploration in %% |
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Forum Masters Degree
Joined: 18 Apr 2008
Posts: 545
Location: The 10th Kingdom xD
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Okay...
Can anyone please tell me if he knows how much of Earth was explored by modern man and was cataloged?
I'm asking this because I always wandered if there were any places left to explore on earth... 
Thanks in advance,
tony
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| Pendragon |
| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 9:41 am Post subject: |
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Moderator
Joined: 07 Jan 2005
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Location: Nederland
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| If you include the deep ocean then the percentage may actually be quite limited. For example only recently an unmanned vehicle managed to visit just one spot at the bottom of the Mariana trough (deepest part of ocean on earth), and they encountered organisms which they didn't expect there. So of that particular area only a single spot has been explored so far, and only by an unmanned vehicle. |
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| Hanuka |
| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 9:45 am Post subject: |
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Forum Masters Degree
Joined: 18 Apr 2008
Posts: 545
Location: The 10th Kingdom xD
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Yah, oceans are pretty tricky things to explore, but as technology advances I can assume that somewhere in the very near future there will be a submarine which could explore the deepest part of the ocean for a long period of time as it's not THAT tricky machine to build :/
But what about the dry land? Is it all cataloged or there are still areas which are mystery?
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| free radical |
| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 10:19 am Post subject: |
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Forum Masters Degree
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
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| Depends what you mean. Greenland and Antarctica should be easier to explore paleontologically as the ice gives way. |
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| Bunbury |
| Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 10:20 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 26 Sep 2007
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You asked about cataloging. If you mean how many species have been identified and formally named it's between 1.5 and 1.8 million. The total number of living species is estimated to be between 3.6 and 100 million, with a median estimate of 10 million, so it's possible that we have only identified between 1/3 and a tiny fraction of the total species.
This is according to Edward O. Wilson in The Future of Life. |
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| Zwolver |
| Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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Location: Netherlands, Limburg, Ospel
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Does exploring underground count as exploration? and that combined with the fact that 68% is covered in water, with 70% of that unexplored, then we probably discovered 5% of the earth.
All land mass surface that we actually charted is about 92 to 95%. Because some deserts tend to change, and can't really be charted. and also some rainforest has not been located by foot, but by sattelite. Also, some permafrost is melting of the mountains, that also needs recharting. Etc etc.
Or do changes like that not count? Ok, silly me then 
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| GrowlingDog |
| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 2:28 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 09 Feb 2008
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Location: At the gates of Sto-vo-kor
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| Bunbury wrote: |
You asked about cataloging. If you mean how many species have been identified and formally named it's between 1.5 and 1.8 million. The total number of living species is estimated to be between 3.6 and 100 million, with a median estimate of 10 million, so it's possible that we have only identified between 1/3 and a tiny fraction of the total species.
This is according to Edward O. Wilson in The Future of Life. |
Yep and one old man and his family managed to round up a male and female of all of those species and put them all on a boat for 40 days. That's the gospel truth. 
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| Lynx_Fox |
| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:20 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 88
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| Really depends what's meant by "explored." We've probably explored the entire surface at least remotely, for example by radar, including what's under the ice. Just beneath the surface we've probably just really started to "explore," usually in search of oil. |
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| Ophiolite |
| Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:19 am Post subject: |
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Forum Radioactive Isotope
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To what level of detail do you mean? We have satellite photos of the everywhere on the planet. Have we identified every species of plant and animal? No. Have we mapped every twist and turn of every river and stream? No. Have we found every group of people? Probably no. Have we detailed topographic surveys at a scale of 1:25,000? No.
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