The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) High Resolution Seabed Mapping Project, which has been running since 2009, has released an update of its Digital Terrain Model (DTM), which now includes greater coverage across European Seas and beyond.

“We are releasing the EMODnet Bathymetry 2020 DTM product, at the dawn of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for sustainable development, as a clear proof of the European contribution to the world seabed mapping effort. With this upgraded version of the EMODnet Bathymetry DTM, we allow users to have an easy and free access to high quality bathymetric data which can drastically improve their work,” declared Thierry Schmitt from SHOM (Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine).

The EMODnet Bathymetry portal aims to provide a single access point to bathymetric products, Digital Terrain Models (DTM) and data (survey data sets and composite DTM).

OceanWise is a full partner in EMODnet and is proud to lead the UK contribution on this auspicious project. OceanWise’s role is to process large volumes of sometimes overlapping hydrographic survey data from a variety of sources and to create a seamless seabed or bathymetric surface, or DTM, of the whole of the UK Continental Shelf. A high-resolution version of the DTM is included in the OceanWise Marine Themes Marine Mapping data product and Web Map Tile Services (WMTS), while a sub-sampled lower resolution version is submitted to EMODnet for inclusion in the European Seas DTM which then also contributes to GEBCO and the Seabed 2030 project. Other partners in EMODnet adopt a similar approach. As well as the DTM, OceanWise processes and corrects large volumes of metadata and outputs this in a format compatible with the SeaDataNet project. The metadata is linked to the DTM, so the source or provenance of the data is always apparent and maintained.