A community-driven map of the seabed

When the United Nations announced the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2021 - 2030 (Ocean Decade) in 2017, UNESCO described it as “a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity for nations to work together to generate the global ocean science needed to support the sustainable development of our shared ocean.” Similarly, the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project is a global call to action that thrives on the power of partnerships. 

Mapping the unknown

Seabed 2030's aim is to accelerate the completion of GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans), an open-access map of the world’s ocean floor. As of June 2024, 26.1% of the global seabed is now considered mapped. When Seabed 2030 launched in 2017, that figure stood at just 6%. “The achievements made to date would not be possible without the concerted efforts of our global network of partners and the international maritime community,” says Jamie McMichael-Phillips, Director of Seabed 2030.

A map of the seabed has multiple uses, ranging from understanding ocean circulation and climate change, hazards such as submarine landslides and tsunami risks, to supporting efforts such as marine spatial planning and safe navigation. It also underpins many Ocean Decade Outcomes, such as a “healthy and resilient ocean, where marine ecosystems are understood, protected, restored and managed” and a “predicted ocean, where society understands and can respond to changing ocean conditions.”

“People often have the impression that we’ve already mapped the ocean. They’ll point to the maps they saw on a plane or Google Maps, say they can see all sorts of features and say, well, what else do we need,” Stephen Hall, Seabed 2030’s Head of Partnerships, explains.

What more do we need? More detail.

Satellite altimetry – which forms the basis of the seabed in Google Maps – has a resolution of around several kilometres. “If you look closely at these maps, you’ll see that the resolution isn’t there. If we were to look at a town or city where they lived at the same resolution as these maps, well, we wouldn’t even see those places. Imagine if we were to try and manage the land with that level of information. We just wouldn’t.”

A collaborative effort

Given the vastness of the seabed (about 360 million square kilometres), no person, organisation, or other body can map the entire seabed alone. Instead, building the freely available GEBCO map relies on collaboration and data sharing. This is why Seabed 2030 forms partnerships with companies and organisations in the seabed mapping community. At the 2024 Ocean Decade Conference, Seabed 2030 welcomed four new partners.

“We signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Marine Technology Society, which is a mid-sized US-based International learned society made up of marine professionals,” says Hall, noting that the Society doesn’t do survey work, but many members do. “These members, even if they aren’t directly involved in mapping, can help encourage their employers and, through their company, their clients, to share data they are collecting.”

Meanwhile, the partnership with Challenger 150, which coordinates a global effort to map deep-sea life, will instantly benefit both parties. “By combining the high-resolution bathymetric data compiled by initiatives like Seabed 2030 with our own, we can produce unprecedented ecosystem maps and predictive habitat models,” explains Dr Ana Hilario, Co-lead of the Challenger 150. “This is incredibly exciting as it means we can fill the big holes in our knowledge of the deep sea and help us better target where to look for key ecosystems.“

The GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel) is another research-focused partnership formalised at the 2024 Ocean Decade conference. “Our vision is to have a complete and freely accessible map of the entire seafloor…We share this vision with the many researchers from all over the world who are involved in the Seabed 2030 project, " says Professor Dr Lars Rüpke, head of the Seafloor Modeling Group at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.

The final partnership formalised at the Conference is also a first. The Nordic Hydrographic Commission, a collaboration between the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, is the first Regional Hydrographic Commission to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Seabed 2030. "This partnership is a testament to the Nordic Hydrographic Commission’s commitment to collaborative working in support of global oceanic exploration and conservation,” says Magnus Walhagen, chair of the Nordic Hydrographic Commission. “Our united efforts will undoubtedly accelerate progress towards achieving a fully mapped ocean floor.”

Data old and new

Arguably more so for private survey companies than research institutes, the thought of sharing data may raise some confidentiality concerns. “If you are a survey company and you’ve got a job to go survey a massive area of seabed for whatever the client's reason is for mapping it, that data actually belongs to the client. It doesn't belong to the survey company,” explains Hall. “What some survey companies have done is to map the route from their port to the survey area. That data belongs to the survey company, and we welcome transit data as much as data covering a specific patch.”

In other instances, companies and organisations may be reluctant to share new data due to commercial sensitivity or other strategic reasons. “Some companies have provided us with data and requested a moratorium on its use, but often we’re given legacy data,” says Hall. “Having real-world measurements, even if it was done by a fairly crude 1960s piece of kit, is still really helpful data,  especially for things like calibrating estimates of ocean depth given by satellite altimetry.” Hall also notes that for the GEBCO map, “we don't need centimetre-accurate, super high-resolution data. We’re happy to receive a generalised 100-meter grid version.”  

“If you or your organisation is sat on top of a pile of data and never thought about sharing it, then we encourage you to reach out and start a conversation with us,” says Hall. “If you have your own data, come talk to us. Even if it’s held in obsolescent data formats, don’t worry - we’ll find a way to read 40-year-old tapes or digitise paper records. If you happen to be going somewhere where people don’t often go, switch on the echo sounder and collect the data as you go. We welcome all data.”

This story was written for Seabed 2030.