THE INTERNATIONAL BATHYMETRIC CHART OF THE SOUTHERN OCEAN (IBCSO)

G

eneral Bathymetric

C h a r t o f t h e Oc e a

n s

GEBCO

Editorial Board:

Hans Werner Schenke (Chair), Alfred Wegener Institut, Germany

Jan Erik Arndt (Editor), Alfred Wegener Institut, Germany

Martin Jakobsson, Stockholm University, Sweden

Frank O. Nitsche, Lamond-Doherty Earth Observatory, USA

Gwen Buys, British Antarctic Survey, UK

Bruce Goleby, Geoscience Australia, Australia

Michele Rebesco, Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Italy

Fernando Bohoyo, Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Spain

Jongkuk Hong, Korean Polar Research Institute, Korea

Jenny Black, Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, New Zealand

Rudolf Greku, Institute of Geological Sciences, Ukraine

Gleb Udintsev, Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russia

Felipe Barrios-Burnett, Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico, Chile

Walter Reynoso-Peralta, Servicio de Hidrografía Naval, Argentina

Morishita Taisei, Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department Japanese Coast Guard, Japan

Rochelle Wigley, University of New Hampshire, USA

THIS CHART IS NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION

6&5,336 ,167,787,21 2) 2&($12*5$3+<

8 & 6 '

The grid was then filtered and resampled at high resolution, here 500 m. Secondly, all high quality 

data with sufficient areal density, i.e. from multibeam surveys, was gridded at high resolution using 

the nearest neighbor gridding algorithm. Finally, in locations where high quality data was available, 

grid cells from the lower resolution grid were removed and restored by the high quality data grid 

cells.

The gap-fill method compared the GEBCO_08 grid, created using predicted bathymetry, to sonar 

soundings of the IBCSO data base. A blockmedian filter, with 10 km cellsize, was applied to the 

depth differences of the compared points. Based on these points, a difference grid was created to 

adjust the GEBCO_08 grid. In a final step, the adjusted bathymetric model replaced the interpolated 

areas outside a 10 km transition zone next to grid cells, directly constrained by soundings. In the 

transition zone both grids were bent into each other using the hyperbolic weighting function 1/d2, 

with d being the distance to the next directly constrained cell.

For a more detailed description of the grid generation please see the IBCSO release paper (Arndt et 

al 2013; doi:10.1002/grl.50413).

Chart generation:

Bathymetric and topographic elevations are from the IBCSO v1.0 grid. Ice surface elevations are 

from the Bedmap2 data set. Coastlines, grounding lines, rock outcrops, and the names and positions of permanent stations in Antarctica are taken from the SCAR Antarctic Digital Database v6.0. 

Names of undersea features are taken from the GEBCO Sub-Committee on Undersea Feature 

Names (SCUFN) Gazetteer, Edition 2011. Names of ocean bodies are taken from the 4th edition of 

IHO Publication S-23, “Limits of Oceans and Seas”. Names on continental Antarctica are taken from 

the SCAR Composite Gazetteer (CGA). The selection of the names has been agreed on by the 

members of the Editorial Board.

Grid and Chart retrieval:

The IBCSO v1.0 grid can be obtained from the project website (www.ibcso.org) or via 

doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.805736 in different data formats and projections. A digital copy of this chart 

in PDF format can be retrieved from the same source. 

To cite this chart or the IBCSO grid please use:

Arndt, et al. (2013), ‘The International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO) Version 

1.0 - A new bathymetric compilation covering circum-Antarctic waters’, Geophysical Research 

Letters, Vol. 40(9), p. 1-7, doi:10.1002/grl.50413

Contributing Organizations:

Without the collaboration of institutions collecting bathymetric data in the remote areas of the Southern Ocean, the generation of the IBCSO grid would have never been possible. All contributing organizations and responsible persons, excluding members of the Editorial Board, are listed below: 

International: IHO Data Center for Digital Bathymetry

 Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research of ICSU

Argentina: Servicio de Hidrografía Naval

Australia: Australian Antarctic Division: Brolsma, H.

 Geoscience Australia: Wilson, O.

 James Cook University: Beaman, R. 

Chile: Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada

France: Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer: Geli, L.

Germany: Alfred Wegener Institut 

Italy: Istituto di Scienze Marine: Zitellini, N.

 Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale: 

 Böhm, G.; Busetti, M.; Cova, A.; De Santis, L.; Tinivella, U.; Accettella, D.

 Marina Difesa: Nannini, M.

 Università degli Studi di Trieste: Della Vedova, B.

General Information:

The IBCSO program is endorsed by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of 

UNESCO, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), and the Scientific Committee on 

Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 2004, IBCSO is an Expert Group within the SCAR Standing 

Scientific Group on GeoSciences (SSG-GS). In 2006, IBCSO was established as a regional ocean 

mapping project under the IHO/IOC General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) program. 

The project aim is to generate the first seamless bathymetric grid of the Southern Ocean covering 

the entire Antarctic Treaty Area south of 60° S by compiling all available data from various international sources. The IBCSO v1.0 grid has a resolution of 500 m x 500 m and is based on a polar 

stereographic projection at 65° S on the WGS-84 ellipsoid. The grid is available as open source for 

download. This printed chart represents one product of the effort undertaken by the IBCSO project.

Bathymetric grid generation:

The IBCSO data base consists of more than 4200 million ocean soundings from various sources 

worldwide. The data sets are of diverse type and quality. About 98% of the data points are from multibeam surveys. The remaining 2% are from singlebeam surveys, digitized Nautical Charts, or data 

sets containing various types of data. Approximately 17 % of the bathymetric grid cells are directly 

constrained by real soundings. The subglacial bed elevation layer of Bedmap2 was used for the 

topography of continental Antarctica and for the sub ice-shelf bathymetry.

Sonar sounding data were validated, homogenized and stored into a generic data format to generate 

the IBCSO digital bathymetric model. The data was subsequently cleaned and gridded in an iterative 

process until a satisfactory result was achieved. The gridding utilized the remove-restore method in 

conjunction with the newly developed gap-fill method. The gap-fill method is restocking major spatial 

data gaps with aligned predicted bathymetry.

The applied remove-restore method was a two-step gridding algorithm. Firstly, the entire dataset 

was gridded at low resolution, here 2000 m, using the bi-cubic splines under tension algorithm. 

Japan: National Institute of Polar Research

 Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department Japan Coast Guard

Korea: Korean Polar Research Institute

New Zealand: Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, 

Russia: Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry

 VNNIIOkeangeologia

Spain: Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tieraa (CSIC): Maldonado, A.

 Instituto Geológico y Minero de España

 Universidad de Granada: Galindo-Zaldivar, J.

South Africa: South African Navy Hydrographic Office

Sweden: Stockholm University 

Ukraine: Institute of Geological Sciences

United Kingdom: British Antarctic Survey

 United Kingdom Hydrographic Office

 British Oceanographic Data Center: Weatherall, P.

United States of America: Lamond-Doherty Earth Observatory

 National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: von Rosenberg, J. W.

 NOAA National Geophysical Data Center

 National Science Foundation (NSF) Marine Geoscience Data System

 US Geological Survey

 Scripps Institution of Oceanography

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Key Application Software:

P. Wessel and W.H.F. Smith, NSF: Generic Mapping Tools (GMT)

Quality Positioning Services BV (QPS): Fledermaus 3D visualization and analysis software

ESRI: ArcGIS 

Adobe: Illustrator

[Meters] -7000 -6000 -5000 -4000 -3000 -2000 -1000 -500 -250 0 Ice

Bathymetric and topographic tints

Scale: 1 : 7.000.000

Map Projection: Polar Stereographic

Standard parallel: 65° S

Data sources Horizontal datum: WGS 84

Multibeam from AWI

Multibeam from BAS

Multibeam from MGDS & NGDC

Multibeam from other institutions

Singlebeam

Various Data

Interpolated

Pseudo Points

GEBCO 08

Bedmap2

COMMANDANTE FERRAZ

ARCTOWSKI

CARLINI

KING SEJONG

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JULIO ESCUDERO

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Ice surface

Bedrock elevation

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N

S

C H A R C O T

C A N Y ON

P I N E I S L A N D T R O U G H

D

O

T

S

O

N -G

ETZ

T

R

O

U

G

H

P I T M A N

F R A C T U R E

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E R E B U S

F R A C T U R E Z O N E

A

N

T A

R

C

T I C

C

A

N

Y

O

N

A U R O R A

C A

N

Y

O

N

S

A

N

M

A

R

T I N

C

A

N

Y

O

N

T E R R O R

F R A C T U R E

Z O N E

E M E R A L D

F R A C T U R E

Z O N E

R ITSCH

E

R

CANYON

S

A

N

A

E

C A

N

Y

O

N

SCHWA

B

E

N

LAN

D

CANYON

BUFFO

N

C ANYON

H

A L L E T T R I D

G

E

C H A R C O T R I D G E