The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean Version 4.0

• Published in: Scientific Data
• Main Authors: Jakobsson, Martin, Mayer, Larry A., Bringensparr, Caroline, Castro, Carlos F., Mohammad, Rezwan, Johnson, Paul, Ketter, Tomer, Accettella, Daniela, Amblas, David, An, Lu, Arndt, Jan Erik, Canals, Miquel, Casamor, José Luis, Chauché, Nolwenn, Coakley, Bernard, Danielson, Seth, Demarte, Maurizio, Dickson, Mary-Lynn, Dorschel, Boris, Dowdeswell, Julian A., Dreutter, Simon, Fremand, Alice C., Gallant, Dana, Hall, John K., Hehemann, Laura, Hodnesdal, Hanne, Hong, Jongkuk, Ivaldi, Roberta, Kane, Emily, Klaucke, Ingo, Krawczyk, Diana W., Kristoffersen, Yngve, Kuipers, Boele R., Millan, Romain, Masetti, Giuseppe, Morlighem, Mathieu, Noormets, Riko, Prescott, Megan M., Rebesco, Michele, Rignot, Eric, Semiletov, Igor, Tate, Alex J., Travaglini, Paola, Velicogna, Isabella, Weatherall, Pauline, Weinrebe, Wilhelm, Willis, Joshua K., Wood, Michael, Zarayskaya, Yulia, Zhang, Tao, Zimmermann, Mark, Zinglersen, Karl B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Research 2020
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/50278/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/50278/1/s41597-020-0520-9.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0520-9

Bathymetry (seafloor depth), is a critical parameter providing the geospatial context for a multitude of marine scientific studies. Since 1997, the International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) has been the authoritative source of bathymetry for the Arctic Ocean. IBCAO has merged its efforts with the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO-Seabed 2030 Project, with the goal of mapping all of the oceans by 2030. Here we present the latest version (IBCAO Ver. 4.0), with more than twice the resolution (200 × 200 m versus 500 × 500 m) and with individual depth soundings constraining three times more area of the Arctic Ocean (∼19.8% versus 6.7%), than the previous IBCAO Ver. 3.0 released in 2012. Modern multibeam bathymetry comprises ∼14.3% in Ver. 4.0 compared to ∼5.4% in Ver. 3.0. Thus, the new IBCAO Ver. 4.0 has substantially more seafloor morphological information that offers new insights into a range of submarine features and processes; for example, the improved portrayal of Greenland fjords better serves predictive modelling of the fate of the Greenland Ice Sheet.