JAMSTEC

Our contribution

Providing Data

GEBCO aims to provide the most authoritative, publicly available bathymetry of the world’s ocean. It operates under the joint auspices of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The GEBCO Chart series originated from its initiation by Prince Albert I of Monaco in 1903. The development of GEBCO has covered 24% of the world’s oceans to date, leaving three-quarters of the survey blank yet. To map the gaps, oceanographic experts from hydrographic associations, and related organizations in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Oceania have held meetings regularly and updated the bathymetric chart.

One of the meetings, namely the Regional Mapping Community Meeting, was attended by the regional and global centers of Seabed 2030. The meeting agenda included championing mapping activities, assembling and compiling bathymetric information, in collaboration with existing mapping initiatives within the sea area in charge.

GEBCO WEEK is a series of meetings held once a year, over the duration of a week, that calls for pre-registration and widespread participation from marine-related researchers, governments, private sectors, and media, by providing meeting and symposium information. During GEBCO WEEK, reports and discussions on the status of bathymetric data collection, introduction to new analysis software along with a brief training, and outreach activities to make Seabed 2030 widely known have been carried out in plenary sessions and subcommittees.

DARWIN is a JAMSTEC database where post-processed bathymetry data are publicly available and was provided to the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), which is the Seabed 2030 regional center responsible for compiling the bathymetric map of the South and West Pacific Ocean. Attempts to convert low-resolution bathymetry images to higher-resolution ones by machine-learning approaches and AUV(Autonomous Underwater Vehicles)development to obtain higher quality data from wider areas have been made, which are expected to greatly contribute to Seabed 2030.

The Seabed 2030 Project aims to cover 100% of the world’s ocean floor by the year 2030. To achieve this goal, an integrated data collection methodology has been initiated, which involves the private sectors, especially fisheries, through a newly organized Seabed 2030 crowd-sourced bathymetry working group, and the currently formed automatic data transfer systems.

The trackline chart obtained by JAMSTEC fleet is integrated and displayed on the website:https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/iho_dcdb/

Mapping the Gap

Mapping the areas with no data or data insufficient to The Nippon Foundation – GEBCO Seabed 2030 will be performed by JAMSTEC research vessels (upper). ASV- Deep Sea AUVs formation system and deep sea terminal technology that have been successfully developed for Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE will be used (lower).

Refining Sea floor topographic data
(Mathematical Seafloor Geomorphology)

Higher resolution/accuracy sea floor bathymetric maps than those made from original data will be created by super resolution using machine learning method.

Contact

JAMSTEC / Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
2-15, Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa, Japan [access]
E-mail