Portrait of a Blue Planet

They don't call it "the blue planet" for nothing. And now, since Google's launch of a new 3-D mapping software program, we can all see just how blue our world is. The program, Ocean in Google Earth, is an extension of the popular Google Earth software. It enables users to experience the wet side of our planet with unrivaled clarity.

The program works by adding a new comprehensive suite of elements to the Google Earth software, including topographical depictions of the seafloor and maps of shipwrecks, algal blooms and even phytoplankton, the minuscule creatures that are the foundation of the ocean food chain.

Loads of data went into the program's creation, with institutions such as National Geographic, Census of Marine Life, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Monterey Bay Aquarium and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution pitching in their expertise. Interactive features harness all this information to make the deep-sea experience even more engaging via videos and quizzes.

A shockingly small part (less than one percent) of the Earth's marine environments are protected, and the pressures — from over-fishing to warming temperatures — are mounting. A major goal of Ocean in Google Earth is to raise the profile of the ocean in people's thinking about what it means to maintain a healthy planet.

The curious public is not alone in benefiting from this vast storehouse. The tool will also be a major boon to scientists. Conservationists and oceanographers engaged in ongoing projects can now rely on immediate, regularly updated and illustrative information.

As author and futurist Sir Arthur C. Clarke noted, "How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean."