Explorer · GMRT bathymetry
The trench, from real depth data
Drag to orbit; scroll to zoom once the map fills the screen. On touch, use two fingers. Heights are exaggerated so the shape reads; set it to 1× for true scale.
About this map
This is an interactive 3D map of the Mariana Trench, built from real measurements of the seafloor’s depth: the Global Multi-Resolution Topography synthesis (GMRT v4.5), with a finer tile over the Challenger Deep itself. It runs in the browser, with nothing to install.
How deep is the Challenger Deep?
The deepest known point in the ocean is in the Eastern Pool of the Challenger Deep, at the southern end of the Mariana Trench: 10,935 m ± 6 m, at 11.373° N 142.593° E, about 330 km south-west of Guam (Greenaway et al., 2021). The trench runs about 2,550 km and averages about 70 km wide. The map marks the Eastern Pool, Western Pool and Sirena Deep.
What you can do
- Orbit and zoom over the trench, and tap any point to read its depth.
- Set the vertical exaggeration, or switch to true scale (1×) to see the trench as it really is.
- Draw a cross-section across the trench to see its depth profile.
- Hang Everest upside down in the trench, for scale.
- Turn on layers: hydrothermal vents and mud volcanoes, the 8 dives to the bottom from 1960 to 2022, the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, and the plastic bag found 10,898 m down in 1998.
Where deep-sea life was recorded
The species layer shows 326,693 records of marine life from 90 openly licensed datasets (CC0 or CC BY) in OBIS and GBIF, grouped into 0.25° cells and by depth zone, from the sunlit surface to the hadal trench: corals and anemones, crustaceans, echinoderms, fishes, jellies and hydroids, molluscs, single-celled life, sponges and worms. Records retrieved 17 October 2026.
Take the 3D descent from the surface · read it as text · credits and sources