Memorandum of Understanding signed between Seabed 2030 initiative and EMODnet Bathymetry

30 September 2019

In June 2016, the forum for Future Ocean Floor Mapping brought together in Monaco, over 150 representatives from major ocean-related and international organizations from all over the world. A number of EMODnet Bathymetry participants were amongst these representatives. Announced in June 2017, the Seabed 2030 initiative originated from this forum. This initiative envisions producing a map of the world Ocean floor by 2030 for which objects larger than 100 m can be resolved, which will be very challenging for some parts of the world considering the present existence and availability of survey data sets. The GEBCO project is the driver of this initiative which, in turn is run under the auspices of the IHO and the IOC.

There has already been a close cooperation between the GEBCO project and EMODnet Bathymetry since its start in 2008, whereby the GEBCO digital bathymetry is used by EMODnet to cover gaps in its coverages, while the resulting EMODnet DTM is used by GEBCO to improve its bathymetry for European marine basins.

In order to strengthen this collaboration, on 30 September 2019, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was established and signed between the GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project and EMODnet Bathymetry. The main objective of this MOU is to pursue the improvement of the coverage and resolution of the worldwide bathymetric knowledge. Mutual benefits are expected, especially on: the shared vision, contributions between both bodies in order to find and fill gaps in the bathymetric coverage and on the improvements of the methods and best practices related to ocean mapping and data management.