The world's seabed has turned artistic canvas with researchers for the first time capturing landscapes previously hidden beneath the waves.
Technology advancements have allowed a global team of scientists including Hobart-based Vanessa Lucieer, to capture and catalogue a series of detailed acoustic images of the sea floor.
"We're familiar with the appearance of the Moon and even the surface of Mars is well-documented ... but still only five per cent of the world's oceans have been mapped in any detail," Dr Lucieer, from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, said on Tuesday.
In some instances, while mapping the appearance, shape and structure of the seabed, it has revealed "breathtaking beauty", she added.
"They sometimes reveal startlingly beautiful glimpses of the sea floor that look more like works of art than scientific data."
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In one case, a kilometre-long figure nine was found off Norway's northeast coast, cut across by an iceberg.
Another pattern found off the coast of Malta is described as haunting and tattoo-like.
Some of the images are available to view on a new website at http://visualsoundings.org.
