Hypsometry is the measurement of land
elevationThe elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, often the mean sea level. Elevation, or geometric height, is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth's surface, while altitude or geopotential height is used for points above the surface, such as an...
relative to
sea levelMean sea level is the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation.- Measurement :...
.
BathymetryBathymetry is the study of underwater depth of the third dimension of lake or ocean floors. In other words, bathymetry is the underwater equivalent to hypsometry. The name comes from Greek βαθυς, deep, and μετρον, measure...
is the
underwaterUnderwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river. Three quarters of the planet Earth is covered by water. A majority of the planet's solid surface is abyssal plain, at depths between 4000...
equivalent. A
hypsometerA Hypsometer is an instrument for measuring height or altitude. Many different physical principles may be used.A simple scale hypsometer allows the height of a building or tree to be measured by sighting across a ruler to the base and top of the object being measured, when the distance from the...
is an instrument used in hypsometry, which estimates the elevation by boiling water - water boils at different temperatures depending on the air pressure, and thus altitude.
On Earth, the elevations can take on either positive and negative (underwater) values, and are bimodal due to the contrast between the continents and oceans.
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Hypsometry is the measurement of land
elevationThe elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, often the mean sea level. Elevation, or geometric height, is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth's surface, while altitude or geopotential height is used for points above the surface, such as an...
relative to
sea levelMean sea level is the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation.- Measurement :...
.
BathymetryBathymetry is the study of underwater depth of the third dimension of lake or ocean floors. In other words, bathymetry is the underwater equivalent to hypsometry. The name comes from Greek βαθυς, deep, and μετρον, measure...
is the
underwaterUnderwater is a term describing the realm below the surface of water where the water exists in a natural feature such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, or river. Three quarters of the planet Earth is covered by water. A majority of the planet's solid surface is abyssal plain, at depths between 4000...
equivalent. A
hypsometerA Hypsometer is an instrument for measuring height or altitude. Many different physical principles may be used.A simple scale hypsometer allows the height of a building or tree to be measured by sighting across a ruler to the base and top of the object being measured, when the distance from the...
is an instrument used in hypsometry, which estimates the elevation by boiling water - water boils at different temperatures depending on the air pressure, and thus altitude.
On Earth, the elevations can take on either positive and negative (underwater) values, and are bimodal due to the contrast between the continents and oceans. On other planets, elevations are typically unimodal, due to the lack of
plate tectonicsPlate tectonics is a theory which describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere...
on those bodies.