Nippon Foundation-GEBCO's Seabed 2030 Project unveils fresh partnership with your association
The Seabed 2030 Project, an ambitious mission launched in 2017 by Chairman Sasakawa of The Nippon Foundation, aims to map the entire world's ocean floor by 2030. This project, which is a collaboration between The Nippon Foundation and GEBCO, has now welcomed Scripps Oceanography as a supporter in its quest to produce the complete map of the world's oceans.
Scripps Oceanography, based at the University of California San Diego, is renowned for its significant contributions to oceanography and involvement in various international projects related to ocean mapping and exploration. The institution's expertise and resources could potentially play a crucial role in the Seabed 2030 Project.
David Sandwell, a professor of geophysics at Scripps Oceanography, emphasised the importance of the project, stating that a complete map of the ocean floor will have an immeasurable impact on the future of our planet. Scripps' involvement in the project could help advance our understanding of the ocean floor and address global challenges in marine science.
Scripps Oceanography is well-equipped to contribute to the project. The university operates large open ocean-class research vessels for ocean exploration, complete with seafloor mapping instrumentation. In addition, Scripps is home to Birch Aquarium at Scripps, a public exploration centre that welcomes 500,000 visitors each year.
The Seabed 2030 Project has five regional centres: Southern Ocean, Arctic and North Pacific Ocean, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, South and West Pacific Ocean, and a Global Data Centre. These centres coordinate and oversee the sourcing and compilation of bathymetric data from different parts of the world's ocean. The data collected and shared with the Seabed 2030 Project is included in the GEBCO global grid, the most complete bathymetric dataset of the world's ocean floor and is free and publicly available.
GEBCO is a joint project of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and is the only organization with a mandate to map the entire ocean floor. The global predicted depth maps provided by Scripps Oceanography serve as the foundational layer for the Seabed 2030 grids.
Collaborative working is fundamental to the mission of Seabed 2030, as they look forward to progressing their goal as they enter the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Scripps Oceanography, with its commitment to protecting the planet and investigating our oceans, Earth, and atmosphere to find solutions to our greatest environmental challenges, is an ideal partner for this project.
As the Seabed 2030 Project moves forward, the role of Scripps Oceanography in the mission will become more clear. However, it is certain that the institution's expertise and resources will play a significant part in achieving the project's goal of mapping the entire world's ocean floor by 2030.
The inclusion of Scripps Oceanography in the Seabed 2030 Project could potentially accelerate oceanographic research and technology, contributing significantly to the mission's goal of mapping the entire world's ocean floor by 2030. With its advanced resources and commitment to science, Scripps Oceanography is poised to employ technology and further scientific understanding in the realm of ocean exploration.
