Since the eighth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (2002), names have been given to 40 undersea landforms, making a current total of 1,182 undersea landform names.

The Committee noted that groundwater was an important source of water for a number of countries and that remote sensing was useful in the search for groundwater prospect zones, as it provided basic information on geology, landforms, soils, land use and land cover, surface-water bodies and other variables promptly and reliably at less cost and with less manpower than conventional techniques.

To date, more than 20,000 such images have been released to the public and indicate a startling array of landforms ranging from bizarre polar landscapes to widespread wind-sculpted terrains to heavily modified, ancient water-carved valleys that were formed over an extended period of time.

The Committee noted that groundwater was an important source of water for a number of countries and that remote sensing was useful in the search for groundwater prospect zones, as it provided basic information on geology, landforms, soils, land use and land cover, surface-water bodies and other variables promptly and reliably at less cost and with less manpower than conventional techniques.