Despite decades of satellite altimetry, seafloor fabrics and ocean dynamics at kilometers in scale have remained poorly resolved. Using new observations from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission, I present fine-scale marine tectonic features, including individual abyssal hills, small seamounts, and submarine canyons previously hidden beneath sediments and ice. Abyssal hills can extend across fracture zones and exhibit symmetric organization about mid-ocean ridges, suggesting basin-scale modulation of magmatic processes. Using a linear wave framework, I show that abyssal hills act as a high-pass filter in generating internal tides, and the conversion rate is highly sensitive to abyssal hill morphology. Resolving these small-scale seafloor fabrics is therefore essential for understanding ocean mixing that sustains the global overturning circulation, providing a critical link between geophysics and climate science.

Speaker-recommended reading: Voosen, Paul. "Thousands of previously unknown mountains and hills spotted in best-yet seafloor map." Science News, 12 Dec. 2024. https://www.science.org/content/article/thousands-previously-unknown-mountains-and-hills-spotted-best-yet-seafloor-map