Is the NSA a secret funder of this project? I suppose having accurate bathymetric data might have business or scientific applications but the only immediate use that comes to mind is undersea warfare.
Where we don't yet have hyper-accurate bathymetric data there are boats like the USS Jimmy Carter which have lots of tricks and capabilities that we'll never learn about.
> like is there a big geologic underwater arch somewhere that subs pass under for shits and giggles.
I can't promise there's not, but most naval services have proud traditions of firing captains who are involved in collisions, allisions, and groundings.
Like, of course they do. If there are any unusually-good ocean maps they have, it’s those, at least.
Tapping cables is definitely something that's been done through history, but more of the stories were about things like recovering the remains of enemy test missiles for physical intelligence. Now that that fiber traffic is routinely encrypted anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if more of USS Jimmy Carter's missions are recovering North Korean rockets.
There's also more to consider than just hiding. Navies have fleets. A surface fleet can deter anti-submarine warfare activities as well as conduct anti-submarine operations of their own. This both helps submarines to better hide and helps protect them if their stealth is for whatever reason compromised. If you have a surface fleet parked in the middle of nowhere, again it is a dead giveaway that there is something of interest there. Conversely there's no reason your adversary can't sail their surface ships there. If you are going to put your submarines somewhere remote, you want it to be a place where they are reasonably safe from surface assets, like under ice sheets.
There are also the practical concerns that keep other ships from passing through these areas. Remote locations are difficult to get to, difficult to resupply, and far from port facilities which are critical for maintenance and upkeep. If you're 200 miles from port and there's a problem, you can be back in port in a matter of hours. If you're 2000 miles from port it may be a week before you get help. This translates into higher operating costs for your deterrent.
I'm not saying that a sub would never traverse these waters, just that shifting strategy to focus on using remote locations to hide your missile subs has a lot of cons and limited pros.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-cias-earthviewer-was-the...
An NRO history has all early satellite reconnaissance as being under the “TALENT-KEYHOLE” designation:
https://www.nro.gov/Portals/65/documents/foia/docs/HOSR/SC-2...
Many geosync orbits trace an asymmetrical 8 on the ground that looks like a keyhole. That's where the name comes from, from programs older than the TK sats.
"The CORONA satellites were designated KH-1, KH-2, KH-3, KH-4, KH-4A and KH-4B. KH stood for "Key Hole" or "Keyhole" (Code number 1010),[7] with the name being an analogy to the act of spying into a person's room by peering through their door's keyhole"
0. https://www.nro.gov/Portals/65/documents/foia/docs/HOSR/SC-2...
1. In 1960, it was broadened to cover all national aerial reconnaissance (to later include SR-71 sourced imagery) and the KEYHOLE compartment was created for satellite intelligence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_compartmented_inform... compartment%20was%20created
What was that older than Corona?