THE NIPPON FOUNDATION-GEBCO SEABED 2030 PROJECT

Transcription

1 THE NIPPON FOUNDATION-GEBCO SEABED 2030 PROJECT ANNUAL REPORT, SUBMITTED BY SATINDER BINDRA, PROJECT DIRECTOR AND PROJECT TEAM, SEPTEMBER, Figure 1: Shin Tani, Chairman of GEBCO Guiding Committee, presenting at the UNESCO-IOC Executive Council, July 4, Paris. Figure 2: Martin Jakobsson, Co-head of NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 s Arctic and North Pacific Regional Center, presenting NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 at the UNESCO-IOC Executive Council, July 4, Paris.

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 1 BACKGROUND 6 2 DATA AND MANAGEMENT 8 3 BUILDING A GLOBAL COMMUNITY 17 4 CONSOLIDATING TECHNICAL AND HUMAN CAPACITY 27 5 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION 28 6 CONCLUSION 28 APPENDIX I. NF-GEBCO SEABED 2030 STRATEGIC ADVISORY GROUP 30 APPENDIX II. BATHYMETRIC DATA USED TO COMPILE GEBCO_ APPENDIX III. MEMBERSHIP OF REGIONAL MAPPING COMMITTEES 40 ANNUAL REPORT, Page 2 of 44

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 project has got off to a great start - already actively assembling data, capturing the interest of the global media and creating waves within the international maritime community. Within weeks of becoming operational, all the Centers set up local teams to address the aims of the SeaBed2030 project, began using project funds and also leveraged their own institutional resources, to establish a 24-member team for actively working on the project. Each of the Centers has endorsed the project aims, to map the entire ocean floor by 2030, and has helped to propagate its message to the global maritime community. Figure 3: NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 s Project Director, Regional Center Heads, Global Center Head and Center Teams. Each Center has dedicated resources and developed management structures appropriate to their region (see Figure 3), progressing toward the formal establishment of the Regional Centers. Each Regional Center is also setting up a Regional Mapping Committee to provide external advice, data and wider community support to its data assembly and coordination efforts, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders. Key activities across all the centers have revolved around identification and assembly of existing data sources, that are now being incorporated into the first Seabed 2030 regional grids, ready for Page 3 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

4 synthesis into the first global product release in December To support the publicity for these activities, the web site ( has been developed significantly and design work has been undertaken for a complete site makeover in year 2.The Regional and Global Center teams took part in the Seabed 2030 Technical Meeting, coordinated by Dr. Vicki Ferrini and hosted by ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute), at their headquarters in Redlands, California, USA, in April The meeting included discussions on metadata standards for defining source data and the technical details of the format of the next GEBCO grid, the first to be produced through the Seabed 2030 Project. The project team s shared tasks in year one included holding regular virtual meetings for overall project coordination and assembly and submission of a budget and Program of Work to the Nippon Foundation for the second year of its operation. The team collectively focused the Project s activities around the following four core areas: DATA: To correctly set the mapping targets and baselines for the project, the team initially established a variable-resolution grid to be used for determining mapped status, and then performed an analysis of the bathymetric data used to compile the latest GEBCO_2014 grid. This showed that actual bathymetric data contributing to the GEBCO_2014 grid was available for approximately 6% of the open-ocean grid cells of the new variable resolution, depth dependent grid. This critical work helped set a baseline figure for the project and enabled the team to set a short-term target of doubling the bathymetric data included in the GEBCO products, and incorporating bathymetric data covering an additional 6% of the World Ocean over the next two years. This means that Seabed 2030 will gather as much data as GEBCO has collected over 115 years over the next two years of the project. In terms of assembling data, the project team showcased global best practice by highlighting the policies of the US Federal Agency Fleet and US Academic Research Fleet which together have made data from over 2,500 cruises publicly available at the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)-Data Center for Digital Bathymetry (DCDB). Since the early 1990s, data from the US Academic Research Fleet has been processed, curated and integrated into the GMRT Synthesis, which has been part of the GEBCO grid since the 2014 release, and data from over 1,000 cruises, covering an estimated 30,130,308 km 2, was supplied to Regional Centers for integration into the 2018 data products from GMRT v3.5. In addition to mining data from existing international databases, partnerships have been developed for data with the private sector. Fugro were the first such partner, donating almost 100,000 km 2 of transit data to the IHO-DCDB. Later in the year, the project successfully negotiated delivery of 120,000 km 2 of data from Texas-based surveying company, Ocean Infinity, gathered during its recent Indian Ocean search for the missing Malaysian airliner, MH370. With the inclusion of 710,000 km 2 of open source bathymetric data released by Australia, these sources account for at least an additional 930,000 km 2 of data not previously included in the global grid an area larger in size than Nigeria. In its operational phase, just the project s private sector data contributions of 220,000 km 2 have been valued at over $36 million. Given the team spent only about $600,000 from its Feb-July 2018 budget, it has delivered outstanding value for money or provided a return of almost 60 X on The Nippon Foundation s contribution during this period. BUILDING A GLOBAL COMMUNITY: In its operational phase, the Project generated 212 articles of positive media interest, marking this as another key achievement for the entire team, which supports the Director in outreach efforts. This global press attention has included very ANNUAL REPORT, Page 4 of 44

5 positive press coverage from the BBC s World Service, where each broadcast on the Seabed 2030 Project has reached a potential global audience of 180 million listeners. Reuters, one of the world s largest press agencies, also did a story on the project which was picked up by 50 global newspapers including London s Daily Mail, Yahoo News, India s Hindustan Times etc. During Feb-July 2018, the project s website was improved, its Twitter feed grew over 500 per cent and partnership guidelines were debated and finalized. In all 42 partnerships were cemented and discussions were initiated with eight other partners, leading some observers to comment the project has now taken on the shape of a global movement. CONSOLIDATING TECHNICAL AND HUMAN CAPACITY: The Project showcased its commitment to nurturing and building younger talent by hiring GEBCO alumni at two of the Regional Centers. Dr. Yulia Zarayskaya, another GEBCO alum serves on the Strategic Advisory Council, to ensure NF-GEBCO alumni have the opportunity to constantly inject their ideas and thinking into the project In its operational phase, the Project established a very close and strong working relationship with the GEBCO-Nippon Foundation Alumni Team by heavily promoting its advance to the finals of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE on all its social media networks and website. The Director visited the alumni team in Horten, Norway, to examine the feasibility of using their remotely controlled surface vessel, which is now equipped with an MBES and can also launch and recover an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for mapping the seafloor at significantly reduced costs. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION: Internal communications was a key area of focus during this first operational phase of the project. Project team meetings were held regularly and a consensus-based decision-making structure for the project has been clearly established. The Director, as part of a larger initiative to foster closer understanding and better relationships with all key stakeholders, attended a July 10, 2018 meeting in London. The last budget process with The Nippon Foundation involved just two rounds of meetings and was concluded by submitting final documents for review by the Foundation s Board which approved a budget for $1,615,000 in early August, As part of the project s goals to constantly study, learn and evolve from global best practice, a Strategic Advisory Group, comprising four eminent global personalities, was set up. While an in person group meeting could not be arranged, the team members have taken advantage of related meetings to interact directly, and the Director has either met the members of the group in person or held detailed phone discussions with them. Page 5 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

6 1 BACKGROUND NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 is a global, collaborative, project between the Nippon Foundation and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) to produce the definitive, high resolution bathymetric grid of the entire ocean floor by Both GEBCO and Seabed 2030 operate under the joint auspices of the Monaco-based International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and UNESCO S Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 was launched by the Chairman of the Nippon Foundation Mr. Yohei Sasakawa at the UN Ocean Conference in New York on 6 June, For the first six months of the project, from August 2017 to February 2018, Seabed 2030 was led by an Establishment Team (Dr. Graham Allen, Dr. Robin Falconer and Prof. Martin Jakobsson) which laid down the organizational structure and operating rules and played a pivotal role in recruiting the Director. The Director assumed office 1 February 2018 and was present, with two other team members, Dr. Vicki Ferrini and Prof. Martin Jakobsson, when on 20 February 2018, Mr. Yohei Sasakawa declared at a press event in Tokyo that the project had entered its operational phase. This Annual Report records the progress achieved by the project during the first six months of its operational phase, from February July 2018, and is being submitted to the GEBCO Guiding Committee (GGC) for its endorsement. In its operational phase, the project has been managed by the director and a project team consisting of the heads of the four Regional Data Centers and one Global Data Center. Each Regional Center will be the focus for gathering and assembling all available bathymetric data from the region and producing a regional gridded dataset. The Global Center will merge these regional grids, producing centralized, global GEBCO products. The areas covered by these centers and their heads are as follows: The Southern Ocean Regional Data Center at The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Germany, headed by Dr. Boris Dorschel. The South and West Pacific Ocean Regional Data Center at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), New Zealand headed by Dr. Geoffroy Lamarche. The Atlantic and Indian Oceans Regional Data Center at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, USA, headed by Dr. Vicki Ferrini. The North Pacific and Arctic Ocean Regional Data Center at Stockholm University, Sweden and University of New Hampshire, USA jointly headed by Prof. Martin Jakobsson and Prof. Larry Mayer. The Global Data Center at the National Oceanography Centre, UK headed by Dr. Helen Snaith. ANNUAL REPORT, Page 6 of 44

7 Figure 4: NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 s Regional Centers and areas of the ocean they cover. The Global Center is based at the National Oceanography Centre, UK. The Project, for which the Nippon Foundation has pledged approximately $2 million a year as seed money, supports the UN s Sustainable Development Goal #14 and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development ( ). It is driven by the motivation to step up scientific research, enhance policy making and improve the sustainable management of our oceans. Page 7 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

8 2 DATA AND MANAGEMENT 2.1 Establishing Regional Centre Technical Teams and Operations For the Regional Centers to work effectively they each needed to ensure they had the correct management and technical teams and structures in place early in the program. Each Center now has a team of staff working on the project (see Figure 3), with some existing staff at the host institutes now committed to support of the project and also new staff being recruited in some Centers to add to the available pool of expertise. The Atlantic & Indian Oceans Regional Center established a Seabed 2030 presence on the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory campus, which includes dedicated office space for project personnel and students to work on preparing data. The Center head is now supported by two additional staff working on data and metadata management and data preparation. Dedicated Seabed 2030 workstations and data storage arrays were acquired and set up. The South and West Pacific Ocean Regional Data Center at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Wellington, New Zealand has invested in building a governance structure by establishing a Technical Management Committee (TMC) consisting of science and technical staff from NIWA, GNS Science and Land Information New Zealand. An MOU was developed and signed between the three organizations to ensure effective management of the center, which now includes a team of 8 staff across the three organizations. At Stockholm University, which along with the Center for Ocean and Coastal Mapping (CCOM), University of New Hampshire manages the Arctic and North Pacific Ocean Regional Center, Caroline Bringesparr was selected to take the position as a Seabed 2030 technician. Two other permanent staff members of the Department of Geological Sciences, Rezwann Mohammad and Björn Eriksson, began work under leadership of Prof. Jakobsson to implement the goals of the Seabed 2030 project. At CCOM, GEBCO alumni, Tomer Ketter, was selected through international recruitment, for the position of data analyst. The other staff member, Mr. Paul Johnson s responsibilities include establishing a server and identifying all data sets that have been collected in the North Pacific and Arctic region (in coordination with Stockholm University) that are not included in the GEBCO_2014 database. Both Ketter and Johnson are managed by Prof. Larry Mayer. At the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, which hosts the Southern Ocean Regional Center, Laura Hehemann started work as data analyst under the leadership of Dr. Boris Dorschel to meet the goals of the Seabed 2030 project. Her main responsibilities include the compilation of a regional data set and derived map products and providing data and metadata to the Global Center. Funding for a 25% position was also secured from AWI to support the project. By July 2018, the appointment process for this position was still ongoing. At the Global Center, the established GEBCO digital atlas manager, Pauline Weatherall, is now actively working on the technical aspects of merging the regional grids into a new global product, and ensuring the data in the existing GEBCO 2014 grid are provided to the Regional Centers or incorporated at the global merging stage. In addition, she has been the web site content editor for the Seabed 2030 website ( extending the original single page to include additional pages such as information about the project, how to get involved, news items and information on the Data Centers. A web design company was also hired to produce a new ANNUAL REPORT, Page 8 of 44

9 design for the site for future implementation, and the Global Center Seabed 2030 team have provided requirements and review of the designs, now ready for implementation and content population. The Global Center has also set up, and manages, the document repository for the project, together with managing the project communications through g-suite, allowing effective document sharing and seabed2030 domain addresses for both internal and external project communications. 2.2 Determining Mapping targets One of the earliest tasks of the project team was to determine the definition of mapped in order to set the mapping targets for the program. Given expectation that a mapped ocean is one where every grid-cell contains an actual bathymetric measurement, the definition of that grid becomes extremely important. Figure 5: The calculation of foot print at different depths, which served as a basis for the Seabed 2030 grid cell sizes presented in Table 1. Page 9 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

10 A peer reviewed publication was produced (Mayer et al, ) defining the expected resolutions of a global grid that should be possible to achieve using a surface vessel equipped with a common multibeam sonar (see Figure 5). The resultant grid definition has a depth-dependent resolution between 100 m and 800 m (see Table 1), with the majority of the open ocean being covered by a 400 m grid. Table 1: Seabed 2030 resolution targets at different depth ranges Depth Grid-cell size m m m m m m ,000 m m The GEBCO_2014 grid and its underlying source bathymetric data together form the starting baseline of the Seabed 2030 project. For this reason, a thorough analysis of the bathymetric data used to compile the GEBCO_2014 grid was carried out by the project team during the first year of the project and remains one of its salient achievements. When the GEBCO_2014 grid was published, it was determined that 18% of the World Ocean had been mapped to the cell-size resolution of 30 x 30 arc seconds. This number was based on counting how many of the world ocean s 30 x 30 arc second grid cells (approximately 1 x 1 km), had any form of actual bathymetric measurements (e.g., lead line, single beam or multibeam sonar data), while the rest were interpolated using a satellite-derived, predicted bathymetry. At this 1 x 1 km resolution, 82% of the seafloor had no constraining bathymetric data. However, Seabed 2030 has a higher resolution target than the GEBCO_2014 grid, with cell-sizes defined as a function of depth (Table 1). The project team s analysis showed that actual bathymetric data used in the GEBCO_2014 grid is available for only approximately 6 % of the cells of this variable resolution grid (Figure 7 and Figure 7). The project team s efforts will focus on mapping the open ocean that part of the ocean outside of countries Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). If we differentiate between coverage in EEZs and international waters, the mapped proportions are approximately the same (6.0 % vs 5.7 %), although the depth distribution of the bathymetric data is different (Figure 8). 1 Mayer, L.; Jakobsson, M.; Allen, G.; Dorschel, B.; Falconer, R.; Ferrini, V.; Lamarche, G.; Snaith, H. and Weatherall, P. The Nippon Foundation GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project: The Quest to See the World s Oceans Completely Mapped by Geosciences 2018, 8, ANNUAL REPORT, Page 10 of 44

11 Figure 6: Illustration showing the difference between constraining the GEBCO_2014 grid at approximately 1 x 1 km grid cell-size and the variable resolution Seabed 2030 grid using the same sounding database. The left 1 x 1 km grid has data in 18 % of the cells while the same data only covers about 6 % of the cells in the variable resolution grid to the right. Figure 7: Bathymetric coverage considering the Seabed 2030 grid cell resolution targets at different depth intervals presented in Table 1. In total, approximately 6 % of the World Ocean was mapped by source data in the GEBCO 2014 grid. Including year 2018, there are 13 years until 2030, which means that on average, bathymetric data covering approximately 7.2 % of the World Ocean must be brought to the Seabed 2030 Project annually to achieve the project goals. According to this analysis, this means that more data than Page 11 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

12 GEBCO has accumulated over its 115 year-long history will have to be gathered annually if the World Ocean is to be mapped by Figure 8: 6.0 / 5.7 % of the EEZ / International waters was mapped in the GEBCO_2014 grid considering the Seabed 2030 grid cell resolution target at different depth intervals. (All data in Antarctic waters are considered to be outside countries EEZs.) Based on current ocean mapping methods and scale of activity this is not achievable. So the team set a short-term target of doubling the existing bathymetric coverage and gathering bathymetric data covering 6 % of the World Ocean over the next two years. This still means that Seabed 2030 will gather as much data over the next two years of the project as GEBCO has collected over 115 years. Other key analysis: The team s analysis also suggests that, at the current rate of data collection, it is not feasible to operate the Seabed 2030 project under the assumption that new data will continue being collected and provided to Seabed 2030 from existing efforts for the entire Ocean floor to be mapped by For the project to be successful, it will have to quickly move into a second phase over the next few years and develop detailed plans for how targeted mapping programs and expeditions will be realized. Such a plan will rely on a thorough gap analysis of the existing bathymetric database that will be carried out during year 2 of the Seabed 2030 project. As stressed in several key documents submitted to all key stakeholders earlier, Seabed 2030 is targeting the high seas beyond the EEZs of countries. It is envisioned that national hydrographic organizations will, at some later date, be convinced to provide bathymetric data for their EEZs. 2.3 Sourcing and Compiling Regional Data All Regional Centers have been highly active in identifying and gathering existing data during the first six month operational phase of the project. ANNUAL REPORT, Page 12 of 44

13 The Arctic and North Pacific Ocean Regional Center, based at two locations, has carried out a range of data assembly and processing activities. At Stockholm University (SU), a new concept of using the multibeam software, QIMERA, for processing heterogeneous bathymetric data was developed and tested by the SU-team during the first two months of the project. The concept proved successful and was adopted for the Seabed 2030 Arctic Ocean regional compilation. The process of incorporating data from the Arctic Ocean region that have been accumulated in SU archives since the last released version (version 3.0) of the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) grid in 2012 began. This involved bringing the data into the QIMERA Seabed 2030 project for quality control and processing. During Year 1, all accumulated data in the European waters were processed and incorporated. This work will continue throughout the project as more data are collected. The IBCAO 3.0 gridding approach was further developed by the SU-team in order to accommodate the highest Seabed 2030 resolution of 100 x 100 m. The high resolution required several modifications. Figure 9: Web interface for quality control of bathymetric grids and the underlying data. A web-based system for QC bathymetric grids and version comparison as well as data visualization was developed and is accessible at (see Figure 9). The web system permits mark-up of identified data problems. The marked problems are stored in a database in order to be addressed before new gridding is done. Page 13 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

14 CCOM has been responsible for the collection and processing of a number of new data sets in the Arctic and North Pacific. It has also worked with the U.S. Navy to receive and process data sets collected by U.S Navy submarines in the high Arctic. To date these have included data from: 2011 USS Connecticut 3/29/11 to 4/1/11 USS New Hampshire 3/12/11 to 3/14/11 and 3/30/11 to 4/1/ USS Topeka 11/22/12 to 11/23/ USS Hampton 3/17/14 to 3/18/14, 3/24/14 to 3/29/14, and 3/30/14 to 4/3/14 USS New Mexico 3/15/14 to 3/18/14, 3/24/14 to 3/27/14, and 3/30/ USS Hampton 3/13/16 to 3/14/16, 3/26/16 to 3/28/18, and 4/2/16 to 4/3/16 At the Atlantic and Indian Oceans Regional Center, efforts were made to identify and prioritize all multibeam data currently available through the IHO s Data Center for Digital Bathymetry (DCDB) that had not been processed and integrated into GEBCO data products. This included data contributed by the Geological Survey of Ireland as part of the US-Canada-EU Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance (AORA), and modern and legacy data from the international research and exploration community. The team also did an initial inventory of data available through European PANGEA data repository. Plans were then finalized to incorporate into Atlantic and Indian Ocean Regional Data Products a 200 m resolution gridded data set of the entire Israeli EEZ and data from the Gulf of Mexico made available by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Agreements have also been made to include further data already provided from two transits in the Atlantic Ocean aboard the German research vessel Sonne, and data from researchers in the UK, who acquired transit data specifically for Seabed 2030, that will be delivered to the project. The Regional Center also anticipates incorporating new data contributions from the French Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOM) and from a new release of the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) compilation, for inclusion in its first regional data products. At the Southern Ocean Regional Center, the existing database of the International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) was extended from 60 to 50 S to fit the Seabed 2030 region. All multibeam data sets collected with the RV Polarstern were extended to 50 S. Multibeam data sets recorded with RV Polarstern since 2012 were incorporated in the new Southern Ocean database. New multibeam data were also collected with RRS James Clark Ross in the Weddell Sea and Drake Passage in February/March At the Polar 2018 meeting in Davos (Switzerland) in June 2018, that was organized by the Scientific Committee and Antarctic Research (SCAR), a side event of the IBCSO Expert Group was organized. At this well-attended meeting, scientists, government agencies, and fishery organizations expressed their support for IBCSO and Seabed Following Polar 2018, the first data contributions have been received. Following a gap analysis of the area managed by the South and West Pacific Ocean Regional Centre, data assembly has now started. Firstly, multibeam data from cruises around the New Zealand region since the release of GEBCO_2014 were extracted. Subsequently, international databases were interrogated for data extraction. Presently, all multibeam data from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science (JAMSTEC) database and the 30m Great Barrier Reef bathymetry data provided by Geoscience Australia have been added to the Seabed 2030 project database. A test data set was prepared to send to the Global Center. Co-ordination with ongoing global efforts: The project team showcased global best practice by acknowledging the open data sharing policies employed by the US Federal Agency Fleet, which ANNUAL REPORT, Page 14 of 44

15 has made data available from ~600 cruises, and the US Academic Research Fleet, which has shared raw multibeam data from nearly 2,000 research cruises via the IHO-DCDB. Since the early 1990s, data from the US Academic Research Fleet has been processed, curated and integrated into the GMRT Synthesis, which has been part of the GEBCO grid since the 2014 release. However, it needs to be highlighted that the most recent public release of GMRT (v. 3.5) includes data from over 1,000 cruises covering an estimated 30,130,308 km2 was supplied to Regional Centers for integration into the 2018 data products. Good coordination and communication between the South and West Pacific Centre and various Australian science and governmental organizations have led to both the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) and Geosciences Australia to formally recognized Seabed 2030 Project and become official Seabed 2030 partners. NESP is a long-term commitment by the Australian Government to environment and climate research and has a strong and national and international marine program which will benefit Seabed Geosciences Australia is leading the AusSeabed national seabed mapping coordination program, which involves Australian states and territory entities, universities and industry, and coordinates collection efforts in Australian waters and improving data access. Private-Sector data partnerships: Besides the above-mentioned efforts, the project team s strategy of cultivating partnerships with private sector partners also delivered stellar results. Early in the operational phase of the project, building on work in the establishment phase, a very meaningful relationship was developed with Fugro, the well-known offshore private surveying company. Fugro has donated almost 100,000 km 2 of data - acquired while on transit between client surveys - to the IHO-DCDB, that are now available publicly as well as to the Seabed 2030 project. Later, in June 2018, Texas-based surveying company, Ocean Infinity informed the project it would contribute 120,000 km 2 of data. Ocean Infinity s data was collected by a fleet of eight Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) during its recent Indian Ocean search for the missing Malaysian airliner, MH370. This collection method enables the surveying company to gather data much more quickly than traditional mapping missions. With the inclusion of a further 710,000 km 2 of open source bathymetric data released by Australia, Seabed 2030 s first gridded products will incorporate at least 930,000 km 2 of data not previously included in the global grid an area larger in size than Nigeria. These data contributions, which are over and above those acquired from much larger sources such as the GMRT, discussed earlier in this section, were announced on World Hydrography Day (June 21, 2018). Their estimated worth is around $36 million, providing an excellent return on investment to the project. Establishment of regional mapping committees: To continue efforts to source data for the project, all Regional Centers began reaching out to well-established sources and contacts to initiate meetings which will finalize mapping committees early in year two of the project. The Regional Centers are leveraging contacts with organizations holding key sources as well as alumni of the GEBCO-Nippon Foundation Training Program. The current status of the RMCs membership is provided in APPENDIX III. Invitations to join RMCs have also been extended to all members of the GEBCO Sub Committee for Regional Undersea Mapping (SCRUM), for which Dr. Vicki Ferrini serves as Chair. It is Page 15 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

16 envisioned that membership of the RMCs will continue to evolve and expand as the Seabed 2030 Project continues to gain momentum and recognition. 2.4 Technical Meeting and key decisions A Seabed 2030 Technical Meeting took place in April 2018 at the headquarters of ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute), an international geospatial software company that strongly supports the Seabed 2030 Project, in Redlands, California. This meeting, which was attended by representatives of the Regional Centers and the Global Center, discussed data sources, data flow and focused on developing guidelines, best practices and criteria for prioritization of data sources based on anticipated coverage. Part of the data flow discussion focused on better understanding the landscape of ongoing projects that have been stewarding and sharing data and are critical to the Seabed 2030 Project. In order to optimize return on effort, it was decided that from a technical perspective, prioritization of new data source pathways should be a balance of anticipated resulting area of coverage and anticipated data quality. Optimizing data flow and sharing between data centers was discussed as was the need for establishing mechanisms for alerting the project team about newly available data at the IHO-DCDB. Additional technical discussions focused on data submission agreements, longterm archiving of source data and mechanics of submission to the IHO-DCDB. Finally, technical specifications about data products to be released later this year were discussed and timelines for delivery of initial test products and final products for integration at the Global Data Center were established. ANNUAL REPORT, Page 16 of 44

17 3 BUILDING A GLOBAL COMMUNITY Even in its establishment phase NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 had started to attract healthy interest from the global maritime community. This continued unabated in the operational phase, when project management took a conscious decision to build a global community, or a set of stakeholders who would support the project through partnerships, making data contributions, amplifying its messages, or at a later stage, even offering financial support. Media Coverage: From February-July 2018, NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 generated huge media interest, garnering 212 positive media articles. This overwhelmingly positive press attention included coverage from the BBC s World Service, where each broadcast on the Seabed 2030 Project reached a potential global audience of 180 million listeners. Reuters, one of the world s largest press agencies, also did a story on Seabed 2030 which was picked up by 50 global publications including London s Daily Mail, Yahoo News, India s Hindustan Times etc.. There were no negative articles or adverse publicity recorded for the project, though some members of the media and environmental community did comment that a full map of the ocean floor can only lead to a destructive exploitation of ocean bed resources. To counter such opinions, the project team circulated a set of talking points on how best to approach difficult questions, but luckily the ambitious and highly visionary nature of the project ensured this aspect of thinking has so far not entered the public discourse. Figure 10: Articles about the Project Here are some media comments supporting the project and its goals: Using data collected from underwater drones, merchant ships, fishing boats and even explorers, a new scientific project aims to map the ocean floor by 2030 and solve one of the world s enduring mysteries - Reuters, May 2018 If we communicate it well, Seabed 2030 will catalyze ocean mapping coordination and collaboration - Rear Admiral Shep Smith, writing in Hydro International, March 2018 Page 17 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

18 The new director of a project to map the world s ocean floor is calling on the captains of fishing and leisure boats to share their sonar data alongside some private companies which are already providing their data with the Global Seabed 2030 project - BBC World Service, Science in Action, May 2018 The Seabed 2030 project is expected to shed light on everything from tsunami wave patterns to pollution, fishing movements, shipping navigation and unknown mineral deposits - The Hindustan Times, May 2018 Consider that the World Ocean covers 71% of the planet s surface. This glaring knowledge gap won t last long. The Seabed 2030 project plans to step in and map the entire world s ocean floor by Big Think, June 2018 In 2017, an international team of experts from around the world, united under the non-profit General Bathymetric Chart of the Ocean (GEBCO), launched the first effort to create a comprehensive map of the world s oceans - BBC Future, April 2018 Set to map the entirety of the global ocean floor by 2030, the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project has started operations - UNESCO, March 2018 Some other media and outreach initiatives from the operational phase are listed below: Tokyo press conference: In February 2018, The Nippon Foundation held a press conference in Tokyo, Japan to mark a transition from the Project s establishment to its operational phase. Following opening remarks by Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, presentations were delivered by GEBCO Chair, Mr. Shin Tani, Prof. Martin Jakobsson, Dr. Vicki Ferrini, Kongsberg Maritime s Bjorn Jalving and Fugro s David Millar. The event, which also introduced the new Director of the Project, Mr. Satinder Bindra, received over 85 articles of positive, though mainly Japanese, press coverage. World Hydrography Day: To mark this important event on June , the project released an online video prepared in partnership with Fugro, to highlight the main aims of the project. It also focused on the importance of crowdsourced data by showcasing Fugro s contribution of transit data to IHO-DCDB as best practice. The film enabled Seabed 2030 to get out a key message: assets already deployed at sea such as fishing boats, cruise ships, cargo vessels, etc. could serve as a data gathering fleet for the project. Fugro was also pleased with the resultant publicity, which allowed the company an opportunity to position itself as both a solid partner of the project as well as a responsible global maritime citizen. The film was distributed to the project s entire mailing list (see section below), placed on the homepage of the website and distributed through social media channels. Additionally, it was shared with Fugro, which in July 2018 was in the process of developing a Seabed 2030 section on its website; the IHO-DCDB in Boulder, Colorado; the Regional Centers and all the project s media contacts. The response to the video was overwhelmingly positive. Alongside the video, the project also put out a press release with Ocean Infinity, the company that was, until recently, leading the search for the missing Malaysian airliner, MH370. During its search, Ocean Infinity mapped an area greater than 120,000 km 2 and on June 21 announced they would donate it to the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project. All Ocean Infinity s highresolution data was collected by a swarm of 8 Hugin AUVs and this announcement was also very well received by the media and set the tone for further such visionary and meaningful donations by private sector entities. ANNUAL REPORT, Page 18 of 44

19 Logo and Lists: Since the Project became operational in February its profile has grown exponentially. This is also proven by the various organizations which frequently contact the Project Director for media interviews, keynote speaking slots and to showcase Seabed 2030 s achievements in long form documentaries. To ensure all stakeholders and supporters continue to rally together in support of Seabed 2030 s goals, the project team designed three different logo concepts and shared them with all key stakeholders in June While the GEBCO community clearly showed a preference for one logo, a final choice could not be agreed before July This work, it is hoped, has prepared the ground for a final selection to be made very early in the project s second year so it can be used on the website, social media posts, letterheads, visiting cards, invitations etc. and help to elevate the project into a globally recognized brand. Significant work was done during the project s operational phase to generate its Master Contact List, which now has over 1,300 names consisting of journalists, web signups, attendees from the Monaco forum in 2016 and GEBCO alumni. This list has been checked for compliance with General Data Protection Regulations to ensure that all included contacts have provided consent. In addition to the project team s master list, agreements were also reached to share all outreach material with various other networks listed below. The Ocean Council The Marine Geological and Biological Habitat Mapping group (GeoHab; an international association of marine scientists established since The Circum-Pacific Council ( an international, non-governmental association of earth scientists, engineers, and oceanographers who represent government, industry, and academia with interests primarily in the Pacific region. Multibeam Sonar Training Course network, run by Lindsay Gee (this list alone has more than 1,200 names) Website: During its operational phase the Seabed 2030 web site ( was updated with additional pages, including information about the project and how to get involved, news items and information on the Data Centers. A web design company was also commissioned and to produce a new web site design for future implementation. Finally, some ground breaking work was done to gather some base line figures and analytics on the project s website (see Figure 11). Page 19 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

20 Statistics on access to the Seabed 2030 web site (1st February th July 2018) 31,027 pages viewed (repeated views of a page are included in this figure) 22,414 unique page views (represents the number of sessions during which that page was viewed one or more times) Figure 11: Countries where IP addresses have accessed the Seabed 2030 web site are shown in blue. The darker the color the more visits to the web site. ANNUAL REPORT, Page 20 of 44

21 Table 2: the number of visits to various pages of the Seabed 2030 website from 15th May -24th July 2018 Page visited Page Views Unique Page Views Average time on page Home page 14,965 13,309 02:07 News 1,842 1,570 02:24 About_Us 1, :28 Data_Centers :11 Get_Involved :13 Atlantic/Indian :41 FAQ s :23 Global Center :42 Arctic/Pacific :31 Resources_for_Journalists :50 Pacific :19 Southern_Ocean :33 Page 21 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

22 Table 3: A Selection of Some Key Activities and Initiatives of the Seabed 2030 Project Team Presentations and meetings attended Event/contribution Date/location Project team contributor(s) IEEE/MTS Oceans 2017 Conference - Panel Discussion: Global Seabed Mapping 2017 US National Ocean Exploration Forum - Exploration in a Sea of Data. Demonstration: Ocean Mapping Data Visualization American Geophysical Union (AGU): Presentation: What Will Science Gain from Mapping the World Ocean Floor? American Geophysical Union (AGU): Chaired workshop on Seabed Mapping 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting: Building a Global Ocean Map through International Collaboration Seabed Oceans Deeply: panel discussion on Seabed 2030 (livestreamed on social media) AORA Atlantic Seabed Mapping International Working Group (ASMIWG): to examine contribution of existing data and acquisition of new data for the project U.S. Office of Naval Research Distinguished Lecture: We ve Come a Long Way but Still Have Far to Go Anchorage, AK, Sept 2017 San Diego, CA, Oct 2017 New Orleans, USA, 15th Dec., 2017 New Orleans, USA, 15th Dec., 2017 Portland, Oregon, USA, Feb., 2018 April 2018 Lisbon, Portugal, May, 2018 Washington D.C, USA, 12th June, 2018 Dr. Vicki Ferrini Dr. Vicki Ferrini Prof. Martin Jakobsson Assoc. Prof. Geoffroy Lamarche Dr. Vicki Ferrini Dr. Vicki Ferrini Dr. Vicki Ferrini & Dr. Helen Snaith Prof. Larry Mayer ANNUAL REPORT, Page 22 of 44

23 Presentations and meetings attended Event/contribution Date/location Project team contributor(s) Arctic Science Summit Week: Martin Jakobsson called in as an expert on Arctic Bathymetry with industry, government, experts about a potential new communication cable across the Arctic Ocean and related mapping requirements UNESCO-IOC Executive Council: presentation of the Seabed 2030 project Australian Marine Science Association conference Science, Technology and Research (STAR) network of the Pacific Community 2018 meeting World Hydrographic Day - launch of Seabed 2030 South and West Pacific Centre Davos, Switzerland, 24th 25th June, 2018 Paris, France, 4th July, 2018 Adelaide, Australia, 1-5 July Suva, Fiji, July Wellington, New Zealand 21 June 2018 Prof. Martin Jakobsson Prof. Martin Jakobsson Mr Kevin Mackay Mr Kevin Mackay Assoc. Prof. Geoffroy Lamarche Papers Reference Mayer, L.; Jakobsson, M.; Allen, G.; Dorschel, B.; Falconer, R.; Ferrini, V.; Lamarche, G.; Snaith, H.; Weatherall, P. The Nippon Foundation GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project: The Quest to See the World s Oceans Completely Mapped by Geosciences 2018, 8, Publication date February 2018 Authors Members of the project team and Seabed2030/GEBCO colleagues Page 23 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

24 Papers Reference Lamarche, G., Bindra, S., Dorschel, B., Ferrini, V., Jakobsson, M., Mayer, L., Snaith, H. and Weatherall, P. (2018) 100% of the World Ocean floor mapped by 2030 The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project Geocart 2018, Society, N.Z.C., Wellington, September Publication date Submitted June 2018, published Sep 2018 Authors Members of the project team and Seabed2030/GEBCO colleagues Work visits Fishery biologist Mark Zimmerman from the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, was invited to Stockholm University to work with bathymetry collected by their fishery inspection/research vessels. During his 22 day work visit, data from Alaskan waters was incorporated into the North Pacific and Arctic Ocean grids Figure 12: Geosciences Cover on NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030, February, 2018 ANNUAL REPORT, Page 24 of 44

25 Social media: Seabed 2030 has a Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter presence, but given its limited initial resources, the project team decided to first focus attention on its Twitter feed, which grew over 500% from February to July. In August, the project had 230 followers, mostly comprising Seabed 2030 s target audience in the maritime community. Figure 13: At the Geohab Conference in Santa Barbara, California, from L to R Ms. Kim Picard, Geoscience Australia; Mr. Ed Saade, Fugro; Mr. Satinder Bindra, Seabed 2030; Dr. Geoffroy Lamarche, head, Seabed 2030 South and West Pacific Center; Dr. Gary Greene, Moss Landing Labs. Partnerships: Early in its operational phase, the project team wrote and then began implementing a partnership strategy, which stressed cultivating relationships with various organizations and assigning them to distinct categories such as Partners, Supporters, Donors etc., determined by the nature and scale of their support. Given the great excitement in the maritime community to learn more about the project, the team decided members would attend key events at science and various other marine industry fora to drum up partnership support. A decision was also taken to Page 25 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

26 showcase partnerships on the website and to reward data donations exceeding 25,000 km 2 with positive endorsement or press releases. Here are some examples of engaging with partners: Geoscience Australia: Seabed 2030 provided Geoscience Australia, which had shared 710,000 km 2 of data obtained from the first search for the missing Malaysian Airliner MH-370 as open source material, a strong testimonial for its latest Annual Report. Geoscience Australia has been a strong supporter of Seabed 2030 and requested the project to work in close association with AusSeabed, a national seabed mapping coordination program. Indonesia: Jakarta inquired how it could be more involved in the project and subsequently both Malaysian and Indonesian oil companies began contacting Seabed 2030 and also invited the project team to deliver a keynote at some of their key forums. Private Sector Partners: Partnerships with Fugro and Ocean Infinity have blossomed as have professional relationships with some of their senior executives. Both these companies delivered substantive data donations to Seabed 2030 and have undoubtedly inspired others to do likewise. Oil and gas companies: A decision was taken to engage with oil and gas companies for data and discussions were initiated with Norwegian oil company, Statoil, now known as Equinor, but at the end of the operational phase both partners were still locked in discussions about potential data donations. The Director himself traveled to meet organizations identified for partnership such as XPRIZE, GOOGLE, Circum-Pacific Council, GeoHab, Fugro, Ocean Infinity etc.. At the end of July 2018, the project had established 42 partnerships spread across more than 50 countries. Discussions were continuing with 8 other potential partners. With such strong institutional backing, some observers feel the project is slowly becoming a global movement. ANNUAL REPORT, Page 26 of 44

27 4 CONSOLIDATING TECHNICAL AND HUMAN CAPACITY In its operational phase, the Project established a close working relationship with the Nippon Foundation Alumni team by heavily promoting its advance to the finals of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE on all its social media networks and website. Development Program for alumni: To help build the ocean stewards of the future, the project team proposed the establishment of a formal program to invest in further developing the talents of the alumni. The proposal, which recommended deploying the most capable alumni to help with data processing needs at various Regional Centers, was welcomed as a good initiative by the Nippon Foundation. Synergies with GEBCO-NF Alumni team for the Shell Ocean XPRIZE: To examine the feasibility of using the alumni s remotely controlled surface vessel, which is now equipped with an MBES and can also launch and recover an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for mapping the seafloor at significantly reduced costs, the Director himself, visited the alumni team in Horten, Norway. The visit opened a path for both sides to understand each other s needs better and to continue working in together in partnership. Recruiting GEBCO alumni: The Project showcased its commitment to nurturing and building younger talent by hiring GEBCO alumnus, Tomer Ketter as a data analyst at the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, which along with Stockholm University is responsible for the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans Regional Center. At the Atlantic and Indian Oceans Regional Data Center, GEBCO-Nippon Foundation Training Program alumnus, Ms. Tinah Martin, serves as the primary manager of data and metadata for the assembly of initial regional data products. Dr. Yulia Zarayskaya, another GEBCO alum serves on the Strategic Advisory Council, to ensure NF- GEBCO alumni have the opportunity to constantly inject their ideas and thinking into the project. Interaction with Nippon Foundation s DeSET project: In July 2018 the project team began interacting with the DeSET project which is developing seabed mapping technology by financially supporting three technology startups with $450,000 each. NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 wants to interact, advise and support these companies to keep an eye on evolving technology and to also ensure a reduction in technological barriers for ocean mappers. Working in harmony with IHO-DCDB s Working Group on Crowdsourcing data: To learn more about ongoing efforts at crowdsourcing data, in June 2018 the Director travelled to the IHO- DCDB in Boulder, CO., where he met with its Director, Jennifer Jencks. Contacts were also established with other global crowdsourcing initiatives, so their data could at the earliest possible stage be shared with Seabed Postponement of the Capacity Development Review: The review, which was meant to focus on future capacity needs, including the GEBCO-Nippon Foundation Training Program at the University of New Hampshire to achieve Seabed 2030 goals, had to be deferred to the project s second year of operations. This postponement enabled the team to focus on more pressing priorities such as gathering data, consolidating relationships, doing outreach, shoring up organizational structures and establishing standard operating procedures. Page 27 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

28 5 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Within weeks of becoming operational, the wider team of those working on the Seabed 2030 project quickly grew to 25 members and team meetings became the venue for discussing key items and making decisions. Internal Communications: This was an important area of focus during the project s initial stages. Project team meetings were held regularly and a consensus-based decision making ethos was established with the director exercising his executive privileges only as and when needed. At the invitation of the Nippon Foundation, all key stakeholders met on July 10 in London, where key working relationships and common positions on strategic focus were established. Capturing and Sharing Knowledge within the project team: To help the project team work more efficiently together and to enable them to share and archive information and documents - a project wiki was set up. This includes a regularly-updated calendar of events and meetings that are pertinent to the project and captures who is attending. An archive of meeting reports, brochures, presentations and images provides a useful resource for the team. Project management and Team Meeting related documents are also included on the wiki providing transparency and easy access for all, including the IHO. Setting baselines and targets to gauge efficiency: Baselines were established in 2018 for how much of the ocean floor was mapped according to the project s varied resolution goals. Baseline data was also gathered on press coverage, website and social media usage to build a culture of accountability and to allow the project team to assess what s working well and course correct as necessary. Strategic Advisory Group: As part of the project s goals to constantly study, learn and evolve from global best practice, a Strategic Advisory Group, comprising four eminent global personalities, was set up. The Group, which has a blend of international and gender balance, will advise the Project team on strategic issues such as data collection, partnerships, technology and fund-raising matters. While an in-person group meeting could not be arranged, the Director either met the members of the group in person or held detailed phone discussions with them. The Group may be strengthened in the coming years as the project grows and its needs further evolve. (Please see APPENDIX I) Financial Management: In April 2018, the project director submitted a budget proposal (that included priority areas for ) to The Nippon Foundation. Two skype meetings were held to finalize the process and then final documents were submitted for review by the Foundation s Board, which approved a budget for $1,615,000 in early August, In its operational phase, the project had unspent resources of $382,433. This was mainly because many teams were being established and spending rules and protocols were being set up. In such a climate, being conservative in spending was seen as a more prudent option. 6 CONCLUSION The NF-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project has got off to a great start and the team is highly motivated to gather data for producing a historic bathymetric map in December From February to July 2018, the project became a media darling of sorts but it will be challenging to keep up this tempo without showcasing sterling results. Being a globally dispersed team, shoring up internal communications and building better understanding among key stakeholders remain mission critical activities. ANNUAL REPORT, Page 28 of 44

29 As the project continues to grow, its administrative, accounting and legal workload will increase substantially, thereby necessitating the need for deploying adequate resources to these areas during the second full year of its operations. Page 29 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

30 APPENDIX I. NF-GEBCO SEABED 2030 STRATEGIC ADVISORY GROUP DAWN JEANNINE WRIGHT, PhD Chief Scientist of ESRI, a GIS software firm with headquarters in southern California, was born in Baltimore, Maryland in She graduated cum laude with her B.S. degree in geology from Wheaton College in She then earned her M.S. degree from Texas A&M University in oceanography in In 1990, Wright enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her experiences exploring the ocean floor led to Wright s nickname "Deep Sea Dawn." She completed her doctorate in 1994, authoring a dissertation titled, "From Pattern to Process on the Deep Ocean Floor: A Geographic Information System Approach." In 1995, Wright joined the Geosciences faculty at Oregon State. She remained an active member of the OSU faculty for sixteen years, during which time she created a GIS learning curriculum and conducted influential research on the geology and geography of the deep seas and the ocean floor, focusing primarily on the south Pacific. She was promoted to full professor after only seven years at OSU and, in 2007, received the Carnegie Foundation's U.S. Professor of the Year Award for the state of Oregon. BJORN JALVING Executive Vice President of Kongsberg Maritime, graduated with an M.Sc. in Engineering Cybernetics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in He started at FFI, the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, in 1992 and initially worked on the development of autonomous underwater vehicles. Jalving developed the HUGIN AUV control and mission management system and was responsible for the team that developed the aided inertial navigation system. During his 14 years at FFI, including moving to the position as Principal Scientist, Jalving published and co-authored more than 30 publications. In 2006, Jalving joined Kongsberg Maritime and, in 2007, was appointed Vice President of the AUV Department. Since 2012, Jalving has been Executive Vice President of the Subsea Division in Kongsberg which ANNUAL REPORT, Page 30 of 44

31 deals with the company s activities in marine robotics and underwater sensor systems. In 2014 he received the Compass Distinguished Achievement Award from the Marine Technology Society for his long career and achievements in AUV technology. DR. KILAPARTI RAMAKRISHNA Head of Strategy of the Green Climate Fund, is a globally recognized climate policy leader and environmental lawyer. He has worked with the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) in a 3-fold position; Holder of Sara Shallenberger Brown Chair in Environmental Law and Policy; Director, WHRC Policy Program, and Vice President. Earlier in his career, Dr. Ramakrishna worked as the Policy Advisor to the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. At UNEP he was also its Deputy Director in the Division of Policy Development and Law and Chief of Cross-sectoral Environmental Issues. Some other career assignments include Special Advisor to the United Nations in drafting the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; Advisor, Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Principal Officer for Implementation in the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat, Montreal. Dr. Ramakrishna has taught at the Harvard Law School in Massachusetts. He is an elected life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and World Academy of Arts and Sciences, and serves on the board of trustees of Consensus Building Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He holds bachelor degrees in law and sciences and masters and doctoral degrees in international environmental law. Page 31 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

32 YULIA ZARAYSKAYA, PhD Team leader of Nippon-GEBCO alumni team for Shell Ocean XPrize, graduated from the Department of Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University in Since 2006 she has been employed at the Laboratory of ocean floor geomorphology and tectonics in the Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. Zarayskaya received her PhD in Geodynamics and Geotectonic in She has participated in several cruises on board RV Akademic Nikolay Strakhov, RV Academic Treshnikov in the Arctic, Antarctic, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Her main fields of scientific interest and expertise are bathymetry and ocean floor geomorphology, habitat mapping, and geotectonics. She also actively participates in outreach efforts for popularizing ocean science, such as museum exhibitions and educational activities for children. ANNUAL REPORT, Page 32 of 44

33 APPENDIX II. BATHYMETRIC DATA USED TO COMPILE GEBCO_2014 (Compiled by Pauline Weatherall, Global Center) The GEBCO_2014 product has been built from a database of ship-track soundings with interpolation between soundings guided by satellite-derived gravity data. Where they improve on this model, data sets generated using other methods have been included. Development of the GEBCO_2014 Grid GEBCO_2014 is an updated version of the GEBCO_08 Grid, originally published in This grid was derived from v5.0 of the SRTM30_plus data set, released in It was produced by combining the published Smith and Sandwell global topographic grid between latitudes 80 N and 81 S (version 11.1, September 2008) with a database of bathymetric soundings. Since the release of the GEBCO_08 Grid, the GEBCO community has been working on updating this data set, using it as a 'base grid', and including data sets generated by other methods. Recognizing the importance of local expertise when building a global bathymetric grid, GEBCO. The GEBCO_2014 Grid benefits from data sets provided by and collaborations with a number of regional mapping groups. Page 33 of 44 ANNUAL REPORT,

34 Data sets included in GEBCO_2014 Figure 14: The coverage of the source data sets included in the GEBCO_2014 Grid. Table 4: List of the source data sets included in the GEBCO_2014 Grid Ocean Area Regional and Global Bathymetric Grids Gridded bathymetric data set for all ocean regions SRTM30_PLUS, version 5.0 [Becker et al., 2009] Arctic Ocean (north of 64 N) International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) v3 [Jakobsson et al., 2012] ( ANNUAL REPORT, Page 34 of 44