Google Maps Launches Ocean View to Celebrate the Spectacular Undersea World

First Posted: Jun 09, 2015 09:00 AM EDT

Google celebrated World Oceans Day, June 8, with something interesting. In conjunction with the XL Catlin Seaview Survey team, Google released 40 new underwater Street View Locations, including ones in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Google actually placed submerged cameras in 20 spots in the Great Barrier Reef, the largest reef in the world. This location is home to great white sharks, box jellyfish, colorful sea slugs and hundreds of different species of fish.

The XL Catlin Seaview Survey itself is a scientific project with the aim to create a baseline record of the world's coral reefs in high-resolution, 360-degree panoramic vision. These pictures may allow scientists, policymakers and the public to see what changes these reefs are undergoing.

You can actually see the reefs for yourself in Google Streetview. You can see some of the spectacular fish and corals that live beneath the sea.

"We hope the release of this imagery inspires people to learn more about this precious natural resources," write the Google Ocean Program staff in an interview with Nature World Report. "As the ocean changes we must change with it, by creating new technologies to help document the state of the ocean today and how it changes in years to come."

As more carbon dioxide enters our planet's atmosphere, more of this gas mixes into the ocean. This causes seawater to acidify. Since corals create calcium carbonate shells, this acidification may prevent corals from growing as quickly or recovering as rapidly from events such as blast fishing or hurricanes.

There are also other dangers that the reefs face. Coral diseases, such as white spot disease, are on the rise. In addition, coral bleaching is also an issue; with warmer temperatures, corals release their zooxanthellae, which help with photosynthesis. If the corals don't recover these symbiotic algae in a timely manner, they can die off.

With that said, efforts to bring these issues to light may help preserve these reefs for future generations.

Global Warming May Shift Marine Habitats

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Tagsgoogle, Ocean, Coral Reef, Coral, fish