ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Vertical Offshore Reference Frames

Okay, imagine you and your friends are swimming in the pool. You all want to know how deep the water is, so you decide to measure it. You could measure how far down you go from the surface of the water to the bottom of the pool.

Well, scientists have to measure how deep bodies of water are too, but they also have to think about things like tides, waves, and currents that can move the water up and down. So, they use something called a vertical offshore reference frame, which is like a special ruler for measuring ocean depths.

This reference frame is made up of a series of points or nodes that are anchored on the seafloor in a specific pattern. By using these points as a guide, scientists can measure how deep the water is at different locations and get really accurate measurements.

So, just like how you have to keep your eyes on the surface of the pool to know where you are, scientists use the vertical offshore reference frame to keep track of where they are in the ocean and how deep the water is at different points.