| Abstract | The previous EMODnet Hydrography - Seabed Mapping - Bathymetry - High Resolution Seabed Mapping projects since 2008 already made good progress in developing the EMODnet Bathymetry portal to provide overview and access to available bathymetric survey datasets and to generate an harmonised digital bathymetry for Europe's sea basins. Up till end
2020 more than 30.000 bathymetric survey datasets, managed by 44 data centres from 22 countries and originated from more than 287 institutes from 1800 till 2020, have been gathered and populated in the EMODnet Bathymetry Data Discovery and Access service, adopting SeaDataNet standards. Moreover, 207 Composite DTMs have been gathered from 48 data providers from 22
countries. These datasets together have been used as input for analysing and generating the EMODnet digital terrain model (DTM), for the following
sea basins, covering all European marine waters. The cooperation as established in the earlier EMODnet projects with the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), the Baltic Sea Bathymetry Database project of the Baltic Sea Hydrographic Commission (BSHC), the North Sea Hydrographic Commission (NSHC), and the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO), project of IHO and IOC, is continued. The Bathymetry Viewing and Download service gives users wide functionality for viewing and downloading the EMODnet digital bathymetry. The EMODnet consortium is actively seeking cooperation with additional Hydrographic Offices, research institutes, authorities and private organisations for more data sets (single and multibeam surveys, sounding tracks, composite products) to contribute to an even better geographical coverage. These datasets will be used
for upgrading and extending the EMODnet Digital Terrain Model (DTM). The datasets themselves are not distributed but described in the metadata service, giving clear information about the background survey data used for the DTM, their access restrictions, originators and distributors and facilitating requests by users to originators. This way the portal provides originators of bathymetric data sets an attractive shop window for promoting their data sets to potential users, without losing control. The new EMODnet HRSM3 project is continued by almost the same partnership which now includes more than 45 data providers. The new project is a continuation of the previous project and aimed at improving the data coverage of the
EMODnet DTM including more survey data sets, in particular also for coastal areas. Also, expanding the geographic coverage of the EMODnet DTM with
a DTM for the Caribbean Sea area. And, preparing a new release of the EMODnet DTM with a common DTM resolution of 1/16 arc minute of longitude and
latitude, using existing and new survey data sets, and including also alternative data sources (Satellite Derived Bathymetry and LIDAR). Furthermore, refining the best-estimate European coastlines at LAT, MSL, MHW, also
using a European tidal model for vertical referencing. In addition, refining the tools and methodology for processing survey data sets and generating the EMODnet DTM. And, updating the inventory of official national coastlines and baselines. The project is coordinated by Shom (France) with technical coordination by MARIS (Netherlands). |
