Google Earth has the answer to this question, apparently.  Developers are starting to include ocean floor data in the maps accessible via the program.  It's about time, really- but first I have to vent a bit... 

I often wonder what is so fascinating about Google Earth that makes my fiancee able to sit, staring at the computer,  and zoom around from various angles looking at the same map for hours on end.  Don't get me wrong, I think Google Earth is cool, and I do use it in some of my lessons in the classroom.  But it doesn't thrill me the way that, say, my RSS feed reader does- man, I could stare at that thing all day!

But I digress.  I appear to be in the minority of those not completely fascinated with Google Earth.  Which is good, because if lots of people (and I imagine that lots of THOSE people are teens and college students) are using Google Earth, more information about the oceans can increase interest in the oceans.  And, it doesn't hurt that Google is touting quotes from my all-time favorite scientist, Sylvia Earle.

One statistic that I like to share with my students (which I may have originally gotten from Dr. Earle) is that we have explored less than 5% of the world ocean, and in fact it could be said that we know more about the moon than our own oceans. (I am a supporter of space exploration, by the way- just trying to make a point.)  It may be melodramatic, but it makes you think, right?  So yay for Google Earth, for making at least some of that 5% available for us.