Bathymetry and geological setting of the Drake Passage (Antarctica)

IX Congreso Geológico de España, Huelva, Septiembre 2016The Drake Passage is an oceanic gateway of about 850 km width located between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula that connects the southeastern Pacific and the southwestern Atlantic oceans and is an important gateway for mantle flow, oceanographic water masses, and migrations of biota. This gateway developed within the framework of geological evolution of the Scotia Arc. As a consequence of this and subsequent submarine processes, this region shows a varied physiography. The new detailed map in the Drake Passage region is mainly founded on a compilation of precise multibeam bathymetric data obtained on cruises between 1992 and 2014, and covers the area between parallels 52ºS and 63ºS and meridians 70ºW and 50ºW. The new map that we present is based in a DTM with 200 m cell resolution of the seafloor in Drake Passage that permits identification of the main seafloor features and the map includes additional useful geological information. This work constitutes an international cooperative effort and is part of IBCSO project (International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean), under the SCAR umbrella.Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, EspañaBritish Antarctic Survey, Reino UnidoDepartamento de Geodinámica, Universidad de Granada, EspañaInstituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, EspañaInstituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Granada, EspañaJet Propulsion Laboratory M/S 300-323, Estados UnidosAlfred Wegener Institute, AlemaniaKorea Polar Research Institute, CoreaDepartamento de Geología y Geoquímica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, EspañaLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Estados Unido

IBCSO v1 – The first release of the International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) is an expert group of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) since the XXVIII SCAR Conference held on 30th July 2004 in Bremen Germany and a regional mapping project of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Ocean (GEBCO) operated under the joint auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) (of UNESCO) and the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). The objective of IBCSO was to produce the first seamless bathymetric grid for the area south of latitude 60° S surrounding Antarctica. The IBCSO is going to be highly beneficial many scientific investigations. These include (a) interpretation of seabed geology, (b) the building of habitat models and maps, and (c) mapping and tracing of deep ocean current pathways. In addition the IBCSO is going to serve as an indispensable database for new nautical Charts in the Southern Ocean to improve the safety of navigation in Antarctic waters. After the inaugural meeting in 2004, the Editorial Board was then established at the 1st IBCSO Meeting at Santa Barbara in 2007 including representatives from several SCAR member countries. Since then, plenty of institutions holding bathymetric data in the Southern Ocean have been asked for a contribution to the IBCSO dataset. After the time consuming gathering, compilation and analyses of bathymetric data, finally the first version of the IBCSO is close to be released. Besides the grid an adjacent map has been developed, which is also going to be released in the near future. It is proposed to give an overview in what has been done in the IBCSO project in the last years for the creation of IBCSO v1. This will include acknowledgements to the data contributors and a short explanation of the working steps data acquisition, homogenization, cleaning and gridding. Previews of the new grid are going to demonstrate the improvement that has been achieved by IBCSO v1 compared to other bathymetric compilations like i.e. GEBCO 08. In addition a preview of the map will be presented

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean – A new Map of Antarctica

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) is an expert group of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) since the XXVIII SCAR Conference held on 30th July 2004 in Bremen Germany and a regional Mapping project of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Ocean (GEBCO) operated under the joint auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) (of UNESCO) and the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). The objective of IBCSO was to produce a first seamless bathymetric grid for the area south of latitude 60° S covering the area of the Antarctic Treaty. The IBCSO is going to be a benefit for scientific purposes. These include (a) interpretation of seabed geology, (b) the building of habitat models and maps, and (c) mapping and tracing of deep ocean current pathways. In addition the IBCSO is going to serve as database for the development of new Electronic Nautical Charts (ENC) in the Southern Ocean to improve the safety of navigation in Antarctic waters. As the first version of the IBCSO grid is close to be released, so is the corresponding map. It is proposed to present the latest draft version, or even the final version, of the new IBCSO map. Besides the map itself, the process to achieve the first version of the IBCSO grid and map is going to be presented. This includes a description of the datasets used to create the map and a rough explanation of the working steps to generate the first grid version of the IBCSO

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) Version 1.0

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) Version 1.0 is a new digital bathymetric model (DBM) portraying the seafloor of the circum-Antarctic waters south of 60° S. IBCSO is a regional mapping project of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO). IBCSO Version 1.0 DBM has been compiled from all available bathymetric data collectively gathered by more than 30 institutions from 15 countries. These data include multibeam and single beam echo soundings, digitized depths from nautical charts, regional bathymetric gridded compilations, and predicted bathymetry. Specific gridding techniques were applied to compile the DBM from the bathymetric data of different origin, spatial distribution, resolution, and quality. The IBCSO Version 1.0 DBM has a resolution of 500 x 500 m, based on a polar stereographic projection, and is publicly available together with a digital chart for printing from the project website (http://www.ibcso.org) and from the two data sets shown at the bottom of this page