Progress

The EMODNet Bathymetry portal was launched in 2009 with a steadily increasing number of services, metadata and data products. In May 2010 the first release took place of the digital bathymetry for the North Sea, Celtic Seas, Channel, Western and Central Mediterranean Seas.  

In June 2011 the EMODnet digital bathymetry for the existing maritime areas (North Sea, Channel, Celtic Seas, Western and Central Mediterranean) has been updated using additional survey data sets. Also the EMODnet digital bathymetry has been extended with coverage for the Atlantic region, the Adriatic Sea, the Ionian Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. And the EMODnet service for browsing and downloading the digital bathymetry as data products has been overhauled and made more user friendly and efficient based upon comments received by users.

In July 2012 the EMODnet digital bathymetry for all existing maritime areas has been updated using additional survey data sets and also the Madeira - Azores area has been added. The EMODnet service for browsing and downloading the digital bathymetry as data products has been extended with a Personal Layer which allows external data providers to apply for their own account for uploading multibeam survey data and processing these into EMODnet DTMs following the EMODnet methodology made available as a personal viewing layer. Also the portal has been expanded with the Sextant Catalogue service to describe with metadata the composite DTMs that were contributed by some data providers as alternative to bathymetric survey data sets for inclusion in the EMODnet DTMs.

In July 2013 the EMODnet digital bathymetry for the Iberian - Bay of Biscay region, Eastern Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea regions have been updated. Furthermore the analysis of the overall coverage of the sea regions by surveys and the estimated costs of full mapping coverage has been completed. 

Early February 2015 the overall EMODnet digital bathymetry has been expanded to cover all European sea regions and the resolution of the DTM has been increased from 1/4 to 1/8 of a arc minute. This DTM was based upon circa 6000 gathered survey data sets and composite DTMs as provided by 29 data providers from 17 countries, while gaps in coverage are completed by making use of the GEBCO 2014 DTM, thereby applying local smoothing for avoiding anomalies. In addition, several upgrades have been applied to the Bathymetry Viewing and Download service for viewing and browsing the new EMODNet DTM.

Early September 2015 a new release has been published of the EMODnet DTM. The number of used data sets has increased to circa 7000 and several anomalies, identified in the February 2015 release, have been corrected. The new release has 31 data providers from 18 countries. In addition, the new release includes layers showing high resolution bathymetry for selected coastal water in Europe to test the concept of a multi resolution product. High resolution data is available for the German North Sea coast, the French Mediterranean coast and Dunmanus bay in Ireland.

Early October 2016 a new and further improved release has been published of the EMODnet DTM, which is now present. The number of used data sets has increased to more than 7700, while the number of data providers has remained at 31 data providers from 18 countries. This latest EMODnet DTM contains 1092115678 data points (28.799 rows x 37.922 columns) which are divided over 16 tiles which can be downloaded freely in various formats. 

Mid September 2018 a new release has been published. This EMODnet DTM incorporates even more surveys, now more than 9400 survey and composite data sets from 48 data providers, while the resolution from the digital bathymetry has been increased from a grid of 1/8 to 1/16 arc minutes (circa 115 * 115 meters). For the first time also Satellite Derived Bathymetry (SDB) data has been included for covering coastal zones in particular in Spain and Greece. Furthermore the EMODnet DTM has been expanded to cover also the European arctic region and Barentz sea.

End 2018 - early 2019 several new products and layers were released:

  • An inventory and report presenting baseline and coastline data as collected from 21 national authorities. This can be downloaded from the portal as a report together with shapefiles of the baselines and coastlines.
  • Best-estimate coastlines were determined from satellite data (typically Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8) and in combination with the Global Tide Surge Model (GTSM) processed into digital coastlines for the European seas at LAT (Lowest Astronomical Tide), MSL (Mean-Sea-Level), and MHW (Mean-High-Water). Coastlines can be viewed as extra layer in the Bathymetry Viewer while documentation can be downloaded.  
  • Using the GTSM DTM tiles of the 2018 Version can be downloaded both relative to LAT and MSL reference levels as part of the Bathymetry Viewing and Download service.
  • A multi-resolution layer has been added consisting of a collection of even higher resolution composite DTMs for selected areas which have been gathered and processed by data providers into High Resolution DTM (HR-DTM) files. The resolution of HR-DTMs varies between 1/32 and 1/512 arc minutes, depending on local data policy of data providers. All HR-DTMs are described with metadata in a special section of the Sextant Catalogue. In total 196 HR-DTM files have been provided can be viewed, interrogated for metadata and downloaded by an extra HR-DTM layer in the Bathymetry viewer.

End December 2020 the latest release has been published. This EMODnet DTM incorporates even more surveys, now more than 16300 survey and composite data sets from 48 data providers, while the resolution from the digital bathymetry has been continued at a grid of 1/16 * 1/16 arc minutes (circa 115 * 115 meters). More Satellite Derived Bathymetry (SDB) datasets have been included for covering coastal zones in particular around Cyprus, for the coast of Croatia, and part of Denmark. Furthermore the latest EMODnet DTM makes use of GEBCO 2020 and IBCAO V4 for covering areas without available surveys or composite DTMs.

End 2020 - early 2021 several products and layers have been updated:

  • The inventory and report presenting baseline and coastline data was updated expanding the gathering from 21 to 26 national authorities. This can be downloaded from the portal as a report together with shapefiles of the baselines and coastlines.  
  • The best-estimate coastlines, determined from satellite data (typically Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8) and in combination with the Global Tide Surge Model (GTSM) processed into digital coastlines for the European seas at LAT (Lowest Astronomical Tide), MSL (Mean-Sea-Level), and MHW (Mean-High-Water) were updated, now covering the entire coastline of Europe. The latest 2020 coastlines can be viewed as extra layer in the Bathymetry Viewer while documentation about the methodology and the processing can be downloaded.  
  • Using the GTSM, DTM tiles of the latest 2020 Version can be downloaded both relative to LAT and MSL reference levels as part of the Bathymetry Viewing and Download service.
  • The multi-resolution layer has been expanded consisting of a collection of even higher resolution composite DTMs for selected areas which have been gathered and processed by data providers into High Resolution DTM (HR-DTM) files. The resolution of HR-DTMs varies between 1/32 and 1/512 arc minutes, depending on local data policy of data providers. All HR-DTMs are described with metadata in a special section of the Sextant Catalogue. More than 200 HR-DTM files have been provided can be viewed, interrogated for metadata and downloaded by an extra HR-DTM layer in the Bathymetry viewer.
  • The Quality Index layer has been updated, consisting of an improved source reference layer with quality indication. Metadata has been expanded with characterization of the dataset by vertical, horizontal and temporal indicators, purpose of the survey, and information about commonly adopted standards. Analysis has resulted in extra maps with Quality Indicators for each source reference. A report about the Quality Index analysis method and results can be downloaded, while the latest maps can be viewed and interrogated for metadata. 

Further improvement and upgrading of the products and services is underway.