A statistical model of the oceans' variable depth

A compact regional model of the deep ocean is proposed. In addition to the mean depth, the model includes several statistical measures of the depth's randomness which are derived from the two point auto-correlation function of the variation in depth. One-dimensional forms of these scales are computed from available data along four arcs spanning the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The results suggest that the ratio of the rms variation in depth to the mean depth is similar in both oceans (0·1–0·2) and that the length scale of correlation is longer in the Pacific (760 and 1100 km) than in the Atlantic (270 and 350 km). On the basis of this data, some suggestions are offered concerning where future data would be most valuable and the minimum requirements it must satisfy to be statistically reducible.