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Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC) |
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Ocean Mapping
Programme DescriptionIOC activities in international ocean mapping began in 1969 after the endorsement by the UN General Assembly of the Long-Term and Expanded Programme of the Ocean. The first activity was the compilation of the Geological and Geophysical Atlas of the Indian Ocean taking advantage of the data collected through the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE). This atlas was published in 1975 by the Academy of Sciences and the Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography of the forrner USSR. At present IOC contributions to the Ocean Mapping activities fall within three categories: Programme ActivitiesGEBCO
The demand for an authoritative and global description of the bathymetry of the world's oceans from physical and chemical oceanographers, who are involved in modelling the ocean environment and predicting changes in global circulation, is steadily becoming more insistent, in addition to the increasingly fine resolution requirements of marine geologists and geophysicists. Repeated routine ocean observations, as anticipated in the IOC's Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), will be required to monitor oceanic change, and this will require a secure framework of global bathymetry. For this purpose a gridded dataset is clearly needed, so a Task Team of Experts has been set up to conduct a study of the requirement and how it might be achieved. The 15th Session of the GEBCO Guiding Committee was held at the International Hydrographic Bureau, Monaco, 15-17 May 1995. The session reviewed the matters arising from the 9th Meeting of GEBCO Officers and actual problems of GEBCO activities were successfully considered (document IOC/IHO/GEBCO-XV/3). The Permanent Secretary of GEBCO Guiding Committee, Mr. Desmond P.D. Scott, announced his retirement from this post. Mr. Brian Harper was elected to take up this responsibility as of 1 January 1996. The book „The History of GEBCO1903-2003“ was published in 2003. Meetings The Twenty-first Meeting of the joint IOC-IHO General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans Guiding Committee (GC XXI) was held at the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática, Aguascalientes, Mexico on 11th and 12th July 2005. The 2006 meeting is being held in conjunction with this CGOM meeting. Nippon Foundation/GEBCO Training Project Year-one students had worked on a bathymetry map local to their home country and the second year students worked on a map of the 2004 tsunami area. Particular areas in appropriate circumstances the results of a student’s work is be passed on to the relevant IBC. (eg student produced a sheet of the IBCSEP off Peru). Appointment of new Bathymetric Editor Mr Colin Jacobs, National Institute of Oceanography, UK assumed the duties of Bathymetric Editor. GEBCO World Map A new version of the world map has been produced by a working group. It will be available in paper and digital form this summer. UNCLOS and GEBCO The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) commends the use of the GDA. The recent submission jointly by UK, Ireland and Spain uses GEBCO, for example. It is hoped that data collated for Article 76 claims would eventually be released into the public domain and used by GEBCO and the IBCs. Tsunamis and GEBCO Tsunami simulations need integrated shallow and deep water bathymetry including detailed information from the continental slope and shelf. Modelling now involves the use of an adaptive mesh technique for bathymetric data. Wave-scattering theory shows the important effect on tsunami propagation of isolated seamounts or ridges especially, at least for periodic waves, if the top of the feature was above 4000m. Thus, phase shifts between observations and computations indicated problems either in the initial conditions or in the bathymetry. The GEBCO grid is being used by the tsunami modelling community. GEO/GEOSS GEBCO has become a member of GEO /GEOSS , a high-level organisation largely driven by satellite observations to co-ordinate Earth observations on an international basis. Regional Issues The Guiding Committee endorses the concept of regional compilations and products of bathymetry by those who wish to do so. Worldwide Grid Refinement of the grid through reducing the spacing between nodes and the patching in of new data continues. The GEBCO grid is now freely available to all over the internet. Shallow water areas (less than 200m) are being enriched by a program of harvesting soundings from Electronic Navigation Charts undertaken in cooperation with Hydrographic Offices in Member States of the IHO. Bathymetry Data Base GEBCO is involved in the production of more interactive interfaces to data bases with NGDC, BODC, and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Vice-Chairmanship Dr Robin Falconer, New Zealand, has assumed the position of Vice-Chairman. New Logo A new logo is under development. On going negotiations with National Geographic and GoogleEarth for use of the world wide map INTERNATIONAL BATHYMETRIC CHART OF THE MEDITERRANEAN AND ITS GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL SERIES (IBCM)An informal consultation of the IOC Editorial Board for the International Bathymetric Chart of the Mediterranean and its Geological and Geophysical Series was held in La Valletta, Malta (28-30 March 1995). A second edition of the IBCM is planned for publication after completion of the five Geological and Geophysical Series. At present, a full cover of 1:250 000 plotting sheets for the region is being maintained by a network of Hydrographic Offices. Progress has been achieved in the Geological and Geophysical Series within which the Unconsolidated Sea-bed Surface Sediment Chart was printed in 1995. For more information, please see the GEBCO website. GAPAThe International Geological-Geophysical Atlases of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (GAPA) is another endeavour of IOC in Ocean Mapping. The Atlantic Ocean Atlas was published in 1991 and has now been widely distributed to contributors and to IOC Depository Centres. The companion atlas for the Pacific Ocean is now in the process of being published. Under contract from the Houston Advanced Research Centre (HARC), the Russian Mapping Production Association "Kartografia" started last October 1995 to print this atlas and it is expected to be ready for distribution mid-1996. The 14th Meeting of the Editorial Board for GAPA took place in Tokyo, Japan, September 1995. The compilation of Pacific Ocean Atlas was begun in 1990 under the sponsorship of the Margaret Blodget Foundation, USA, and Tokai University, Japan. Selected locations feature: gravity maps derived from satellite altimetry; excellent collections of maps of seismic activity; and extensive accumulations of original seismic soundings, most of which were classified and which have never been reported. To complete the preparation of the atlas for printing was possible in 2002 and the atlas was printed in 2003 by the Head Department of Navigation and Oceanography, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. Regional Ocean Mapping projectsFind more details on Ocean Mapping projects development also on the website of the US-NGDC on URL http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/aboutmgg/aboutmgg.html#coop . The National Geophysical Data Center(NGDC) of USA is widely involved in all kinds of IOC activities within the framework of the Ocean Mapping programme. For more than 10 years NDGC's professionnals have been attending the IOC Editorial Board meetings for the International Bathymetric Charts (IBC) and provided technical assistance, informing the participants on achievments in marine cartography. The NGDC contributed a lot in the development of digital bathymetry in its capacity as IHO Data Center for Digital Bathymetry
The First Meeting of the Editorial Board for IBCEA was held in Lagos, Nigeria, in February 1990. Due to shortage of funds in 1992, the second session was postponed to a later date; it is now planned for September 1996 in Paris. In spite of a lot of difficulties, some progress was achieved within this project. The final version of sheet 8 is being printed and color proofs of sheets 6 and 9 were printed in 1995 by the French Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service. The final version of sheets 6 and 9 is expected to be available in 1996. The Institute of Hydrography of Portugal has just completed the compilation of sheets 1 and 4. After the meeting of the group (St. Petersburg, May 2001), the following developments have occurred:
The Third Meeting of IBCWIO was held in October 1994, Zanzibar, Tanzania. Data have been collected from various sources and strong national support was received The project has strongly advanced through this meeting. The Russian Federation, through HDNO, has joined the Editorial Board. The Republic of South Africa has shown interest in collaborating with IBCWIO but has not yet joined the Editorial Board. Besides, France just expressed its willingness to participate in this project. There has been a significant change in the ability of most Member States to handle digital source material. In 1995, the Chief Editor was working with the sheet co-ordinators to identify their capabilities as well as the hardware and sofware now available in their institutions with a view to furnishing them with any additional programmes needed to handle IBCWIO data. The Sheet Assembly Diagram for IBCWIO has been modified and now consists of 21 sheets. Following a successful Training Course on Bathymetric Charting held in Nosy Be, Madagascar on board "RV METEOR" in June/July 1987, the German Government again has offered, as a contribution to IOC's Training, Education and Mutual Assistance in the Marine Sciences (TEMA) programme, to organize an Advanced Training Course on Bathymetric Charting in the Western Indian Ocean, on board "RV METEOR", 16-30 December 1995. The status of the sheets is as follows in 2006, June:
The Fifth Meeting of the Editorial Board for IBCCA was held in November1994, in San Jos‚, Costa Rica, and considerable progress was achieved in 1995, i.e. bathymetry for IBCCA project is complete for sheets 1-01, 1-05, 1-07, 1-08 and nearly complete for sheets 1-02, 1-03 and 1-11. Sheets 1-15 and half of 1-14 are undergoing major revisions after having been extensively reviewed. Considerable work has been done on sheets 1-13 and 1-17. Progress has been made on sheets 1-12, 1-10 and 1-16. INEGI (Mexico) has sent all digital bathymetric data and software to the Costa Rican participants. Cuba and Mexico will help Costa Rican representatives to get the bathymetric compilation started in 1996. Sheets 1-09 and 1-04 are being processed to switch from paper format into digital form by using the automated systems of INEGI. They will be sent in digital form to the GEBCO Sub-Committee on Digital Bathymetry in March 1996. A tentative printing programme for 1996 includes sheets 1-05, 1-06, 1-07, 1-08 and possibly sheets 1-01 and 1-02. The Ninth Session of the IOC Editorial Board for the International Bathymetric Chart of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico (IBCCA) was hosted by the IOC Secretariat for the Caribbean Sea and Adjacent Regions (IOCARIBE), Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, 24-26 May 2005. Other Matters
No activity was conducted in 1995. Due to lack of funds, the Second Session of the EB-IBCWP and the IBCWP Workshop on Data Sources and Map Compilation proposed by the First Officers Meeting, Bali, November 1994 did not take place as planned. Other activities proposed by the Officers Meeting include:
The IOC Assembly, at its eighteenth session, adopted Resolution XVIII-10, which, inter alia, decided that resources be ensured to hold the second session of EB-IBCWP in 1996. The 4th Session of EB-IBCWP was held within the 6th IOC/WESTPAC Scientific Symposium in Hangzhou, China in April 2004. Japan has compiled sheet 2-11. However, a certain amount of compilation work is still required to meet the specifications of the IBCWP. China has completed the compilation sheets of 2-4, 2-8 and 2-11. The compilation of 2-12 is in progress and will be completed in 2006. 2-13 is in the plan for 2007. Korea has surveyed the area west and south of Jeju Island in the Area of sheet 2-8, and the compilation has been completed. China has completed the compilation of eight sheets (3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-6, 3-7, 3-11, 3-12, 3-16) at the scale of 1:1M. The compilation of sheets 3-8 and 3-17 is in progress and will be completed in 2006. The compilation of sheets 3-4, 3-9, 3-13, 3-14 and 3-19 is in the plan for 2007. Vietnam has completed the compilation of the sheets 3-6 and 3-11.
IBCAO was launched in 1997, and achieved an important milestone in early 2000 with the construction of a provisional database and the posting of a preliminary map on the project website at http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/bathymetry/arctic/arctic.html.
In the meantime, and until 2004 the Geophysical – Geological Series was improved and the results published (IBCMs Geophysical Geological series 1981-2005: Gravity anomalies, 1989; Seismicity, 1991; Plio-Quaternary thickness, 1993; Unconsolidated Sediments, 1993; Magnetic Anomalies, 1998). New perspectives for the Multidisciplinary IOC/IBCM Program and integrated onshore and offshore 3D and 4D Deep Geophysics for studying the actual Mediterranean Geodynamics. At its meeting in Monaco (April 12-14 1999), CGOM examined the above proposals for the IBCM-II prototype and its guidelines, and saw in it an innovative step, which may hold promise for the future. The XIth Mediterranean Black Sea Hydrographic Commission (which met in Split June 7-11, 1999) accepted these guidelines, and issued its Decision 10 inviting the Voluntary Hydrographic Offices (VHOs) concerned to provide releasable data to the compilation.
The 1st meeting of the Editorial board on the International Bathymetric Chart of the South- East Pacific (IBCSEP) had taken place in 26-30 March 2007 in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
The proposal to start an initiative in the framework of IOCs and IHOs Regional Mapping Projects (IBCs) to create a new "International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean" (IBCSO) has been discussed since 2001 during several meetings of GEBCO (2001) and the IBCAO (2002). Contacts
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