Inner Seas depth map

Sea: average depth about 80 m, deepest 313 m (GEBCO_2026 grid).

Tap or scroll to load the interactive map

Sea level todayDrag the slider to lower the sea and see the land that would appear.

Sea level in metres below today’s. A simple bathtub model: it lowers the sea everywhere by the same amount and does not simulate how the water would really drain.

Key

Sea depth

  • Deeper than 6,000 m
  • 4,000 to 6,000 m
  • 2,000 to 4,000 m
  • 1,000 to 2,000 m
  • 200 to 1,000 m
  • Shallower than 200 m (the continental shelf)

Land height

  • Land up to 500 m
  • 500 to 2,000 m
  • Above 2,000 m

Drain the oceans

  • Seabed exposed when the sea is lowered A dashed white line marks today’s coast.

How to read the map. Darker blue is deeper water. Tap anywhere to see how deep the sea is there, or how high the land is, and the nearest named undersea feature. Depths come from the GEBCO_2026 grid, which in most of the deep ocean is predicted from satellite measurements of the sea surface rather than surveyed by ship, and the map’s tiles are coarser than the grid, so narrow trenches read shallower on the map than their true depth. Not for navigation.

Inner Seas at a glance

  • 80 maverage depth
  • 72 mmedian depth
  • 313 mmaximum depth
  • 40,355 km²water area

Inner Seas is a sea. Inside its outline the GEBCO grid has about 40,355 km² of water, with an average depth of about 80 m (the middle value is 72 m) and a maximum of 313 m, found at 57.51° N, 5.96° W.

Open the map at the deepest cell and tap to read the depth.

How deep is each part of the Inner Seas?

The bar splits the Inner Seas's water by depth. Each colour is a depth band, and the shares add up to 100%.

  • 0 to 200 m: 99.3%
  • 200 to 1,000 m: 0.7%
  • 1,000 to 4,000 m: 0%
  • 4,000 to 6,000 m: 0%
  • below 6,000 m: 0%

Named features near the deepest point: Hebrides Terrace Seamount (286 km), Anton Dohrn Seamount (301 km), Beaufort's Dyke (304 km), Rosemary Bank (328 km).

The Inner Seas if sea level dropped

The slider on the map lowers the sea in steps. This table shows how much of the Inner Seas's water would be land at each step.

Sea level lowered byBecomes landShare of its water
10 m1,197 km²3%
20 m2,634 km²6.5%
50 m10,844 km²26.9%
80 m22,747 km²56.4%
120 m32,614 km²80.8%
200 m40,088 km²99.3%
500 m40,355 km²100%
1,000 m40,355 km²100%
2,000 m40,355 km²100%
3,000 m40,355 km²100%
4,000 m40,355 km²100%
6,000 m40,355 km²100%

A simple bathtub model: it lowers the sea everywhere by the same amount and does not simulate how water would really drain.

Nearby seas

Nearest by the centre of each outline. All oceans and seas

Frequently asked questions

How deep is the Inner Seas?

On average about 80 m in the GEBCO grid (the middle value is 72 m). The deepest cell inside its outline is 313 m, at 57.51° N, 5.96° W.

How big is the Inner Seas?

About 40,355 km² of water inside its Natural Earth outline, counted from the grid cells that are below sea level.

How much of the Inner Seas would be land if sea level dropped?

With the sea 10 m lower, about 1,197 km² (3%) of its water would be land. At 6,000 m lower, 100% would be. This is a simple bathtub model that lowers the sea evenly everywhere.

Data: depths from the GEBCO_2026 grid, statistics worked out inside the Natural Earth outline of the sea. See data sources and licences. The GEBCO Grid should NOT be used for navigation or for any other purpose involving safety at sea.

All oceans and seas · Undersea features · Drain the oceans

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