| Title | New grid of Arctic bathymetry aids scientists and mapmakers
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| Author | Jakobsson, M; Cherkis, N; Woodward, J; Macnab, R; Coakley, B |
| Source | Earth in Space vol. 12, no. 6, 2000 p. 8-12 |
| Year | 2000 |
| Alt Series | Geological Survey of Canada, Contribution Series 1999291 |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper |
| Related | This publication is reprinted from New grid of Arctic
bathymetry aids scientists and mapmakers |
| Subjects | educational geology; bathymetry; data collections; field data methods; data base management systems; computer mapping; mapping techniques |
| Illustrations | location maps; bathymetric profiles |
| Released | 2000 01 01 |
| Abstract | For over two decades, Sheet 5.17 of the Fifth Edition of the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) [Canadian Hydrographic Service, 1979] has been considered the authoritative portrayal of the
sea floor north of 64 N.This sheet was constructed from publicly available bathymetric data sets, which in the late 1970s were rather sparse, consisting almost entirely of underway measurements collected from ice-breakers, drifting ice islands, and
point measurements obtained along snow-mobile tracks or using air support. Data coverage tended to be fairly good at lower latitudes where ice cover was not a hindrance, but at higher latitudes, where ice was more prevalent, major features such as
the Amerasian and Eurasian Basins were not well delineated. This situation posed problems not only for expedition planners but also for scientific investigators, who needed an accurate description of the sea floor to design field experiments and to
link their research with processes affecting or affected by the shape of the seabed (for example, sea level change, ocean circulation, sediment transport,seafloor spreading, and Pleistocene glaciation). An improved bathymetric map of the Arctic has
long been perceived as essential to scientific undertakings in the region, including seafloor sampling. Such a map can now be constructed from a modern assemblage of digital information that has been integrated in a coherent manner: historic and
recent under-ice soundings collected by submarines of the U.S. and British Royal Navies, historic and recent observations collected on icebreakers and ice camps, and information portrayed in newly published navigation and compilation charts.
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| GEOSCAN ID | 211310 |
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