The Nippon Foundation—GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project: The Quest to See the World’s Oceans Completely Mapped by 2030
by
Larry Mayer 1,*
, Martin Jakobsson 2, Graham Allen 3, Boris Dorschel 4, Robin Falconer 5, Vicki Ferrini 6, Geoffroy Lamarche 7,8, Helen Snaith 3 and Pauline Weatherall 3
Larry Mayer 1,*, Martin Jakobsson 2, Graham Allen 3, Boris Dorschel 4, Robin Falconer 5, Vicki Ferrini 6, Geoffroy Lamarche 7,8, Helen Snaith 3 and Pauline Weatherall 3
1
Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA
2
Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
3
British Oceanographic Data Centre, National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool L3 5DA, UK
4
Alfred Wegener Institute, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
5
GEBCO Guiding Committee, 112 Rimu Road, Paraparaumu 5032, New Zealand
6
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY 10964, USA
7
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. (NIWA), Private Bag 14-901, Wellington 6241, New Zealand
8
School of Environment, University of Auckland, Auckland 1149, New Zealand
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Geosciences 2018, 8(2), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8020063
Received: 23 January 2018 / Revised: 3 February 2018 / Accepted: 5 February 2018 / Published: 8 February 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Geomorphometry)
Despite many of years of mapping effort, only a small fraction of the world ocean’s seafloor has been sampled for depth, greatly limiting our ability to explore and understand critical ocean and seafloor processes. Recognizing this poor state of our knowledge of ocean depths and the critical role such knowledge plays in understanding and maintaining our planet, GEBCO and the Nippon Foundation have joined forces to establish the Nippon Foundation GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project, an international effort with the objective of facilitating the complete mapping of the world ocean by 2030. The Seabed 2030 Project will establish globally distributed regional data assembly and coordination centers (RDACCs) that will identify existing data from their assigned regions that are not currently in publicly available databases and seek to make these data available. They will develop protocols for data collection (including resolution goals) and common software and other tools to assemble and attribute appropriate metadata as they assimilate regional grids using standardized techniques. A Global Data Assembly and Coordination Center (GDACC) will integrate the regional grids into a global grid and distribute to users world-wide. The GDACC will also act as the central focal point for the coordination of common data standards and processing tools as well as the outreach coordinator for Seabed 2030 efforts. The GDACC and RDACCs will collaborate with existing data centers and bathymetric compilation efforts. Finally, the Nippon Foundation GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project will encourage and help coordinate and track new survey efforts and facilitate the development of new and innovative technologies that can increase the efficiency of seafloor mapping and thus make the ambitious goals of Seabed 2030 more likely to be achieved.
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Keywords:
global bathymetry; Seabed 2030; Nippon Foundation/GEBCO; seafloor mapping technologies; seafloor mapping standards and protocols
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MDPI and ACS Style
Mayer, L.; Jakobsson, M.; Allen, G.; Dorschel, B.; Falconer, R.; Ferrini, V.; Lamarche, G.; Snaith, H.; Weatherall, P. The Nippon Foundation—GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project: The Quest to See the World’s Oceans Completely Mapped by 2030. Geosciences 2018, 8, 63.
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