New animation gives look at canyon that lies at the bottom of the Monterey Bay

MONTEREY BAY, Calif. (KION) The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) has released a new animation showing what lies at the bottom of the Monterey Bay.

The Monterey Canyon cannot be seen from land, but MBARI said the geologic feature rivals the Grand Canyon in size and beauty. Most people have not been able to see it, so scientists worked with post-production company Frame 48 to make the animation.

They made it using bathymetric data collected over the past 22 years. The team worked together to use the large data set to map out the canyon.

“Seeing the data textured and rendered for the first time was incredible. It’s not often that you get to see two kilometers (1.2 miles) under the ocean with that much detail,” said Executive Producer Seth Josephson.

The result is the highest resolution animation of the Monterey Canyon to date, according to MBARI.