The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project has announced that 27.3% of the world’s ocean floor has now been mapped to modern standards. The increase in data represents more than four million square kilometers of newly mapped seafloor–an area roughly equivalent to the entire Indian subcontinent.
The organization said bathymetric data enables informed, real-world action–from improving tsunami early-warning systems to guiding the installation of undersea cables and identifying biodiversity hotspots. It said seafloor data underpins the Blue Economy–supporting sustainable marine energy, coastal tourism and fisheries–and contributes to global efforts to protect biodiversity and tackle climate change.
However, maps provide information to all sorts of actors, so there is also a risk of it being used by those whose plans could significantly damage the ocean ecosystem, such as deep sea miners looking to identify mining opportunities.
Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project between The Nippon Foundation and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), which seeks to accelerate the complete mapping of the world’s ocean floor and compile all the data into the freely available GEBCO Ocean Map. The initiative is a flagship program of the Ocean Decade and aims to close one of the largest data gaps in ocean science.
Over the past 12 months, Seabed 2030 has welcomed data contributions from 14 new organizations–including first-time contributions from five new countries: Comoros, Cook Islands, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania. With data now contributed by over 185 organizations worldwide, the project continues to galvanise global support towards a fully mapped ocean floor.
