GEBCO 2023 Grid Documentation
GEBCO 2023 Grid Documentation
GEBCO 2023 Grid Documentation
1 Introduction
The GEBCO_2023 Grid was published in April 2023 and is a global terrain model for ocean
and land, providing elevation data, in meters, on a 15 arc-second interval grid.
The data set has been developed through the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030
Project. This is a collaborative project between the Nippon Foundation of Japan and GEBCO.
The Seabed 2030 Project aims to bring together all available bathymetric data to produce the
definitive map of the world ocean floor and make it available to all.
The Nippon Foundation is a non-profit philanthropic organisation active around the world.
GEBCO is an international group of mapping experts developing a range of bathymetric data
sets and data products, operating under the joint auspices of the International Hydrographic
Organization (IHO) and UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).
The GEBCO_2023 Grid provides global coverage of elevation data, in meters, on a 15 arc-
second interval grid. It consists of 43200 rows x 86400 columns, giving 3,732,480,000 data
points.
The data are available to download according to the Terms of Use provided in Section 9
below.
2 Grid development
The GEBCO_2023 Grid is a continuous, global terrain model for ocean and land with a
spatial resolution of 15 arc seconds. The data values are pixel-centre registered i.e. they refer
to elevations, in meters, at the centre of grid cells.
The grid uses as a ‘base’ Version 2.5.5 of the SRTM15+ data set [Tozer et al., 2019] between
latitudes of 50° South and 60° North. This data set is a fusion of land topography with
measured and estimated seafloor topography. It uses predicted depths based on the V32
gravity model [Sandwell et al., 2019].
The SRTM15+ base grid has been augmented with the gridded bathymetric data sets
developed by the four Seabed 2030 Regional Centers to produce the GEBCO_2023 Grid.
The Regional Centers have compiled gridded bathymetric data sets, largely based on
multibeam data, for their areas of responsibility. These regional grids were then provided to
the Global Center.
For areas outside of the polar regions (primarily south of 60°N and north of 50°S), these data
sets are in the form of 'sparse grids', i.e. only grid cells that contain data were populated. For
the polar regions, complete grids were provided due to the complexities of incorporating data
held in polar coordinates.
The compilation of the GEBCO_2023 Grid from these regional grids was carried out at the
Global Center, with the aim of producing a seamless global terrain model.
For the 2020 and 2021 releases of the GEBCO grid, the data sets provided as sparse grids by
the Regional Centers were included on to the base grid without any blending. This led to
discontinuities at the boundary between the regional grids and the base grids in some areas,
largely in regions where the base grid is not constrained by measured data, i.e. areas of large
differences between the data sets.
For the 2023 and 2022 Grids, the sparse regional grids have been included on to the base grid
using a ‘remove-restore’ blending procedure (Smith and Sandwell, 1997; Becker, Sandwell
and Smith, 2009 and Hell and Jakobsson, 2011). This is a two-stage process of computing the
difference between the new data and the ‘base’ grid and then gridding the difference and
adding the difference back to the existing ‘base’ grid. The aim is to achieve a smooth
transition between the 'new' and 'base' data sets with the minimum of perturbation of the
existing base data set. However, please note that there may be differences between the 2022
and 2021 grid in regions outside areas of measured data due to the grid merging process.
For the polar data sets supplied in the form of complete grids these data sets were included
using feather blending techniques from GlobalMapper software version 23.0.1 made
available by Blue Marble Geographics.
Some additional edits were made to the final grid to remove erroneous values identified in the
previous grid and notified to the Global Center.
The GEBCO_2023 Grid includes data sets from a number of international and national data
repositories and regional mapping initiatives. Information on the data sets included in the grid
is given in our data contributors list.
4. Land Data
The land data in the GEBCO Grid are taken directly from SRTM15+ V2.5.5 data set for all
areas outside the Polar regions – see the SRTM15_plus data set documentation for more
information.
South of 60°S, the land/ ice-surface elevation topography is largely determined from
MEaSUREs BedMachine Antarctica, Version 2 (Morlighem, M. et al 2020). For areas north
of 60°N, land data are largely taken from the Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data
2010 (GMTED2010) data set (Danielson, J.J., and Gesch, D.B., 2011).
5. GEBCO Type Identifier (TID) Grid
The GEBCO Grid is accompanied by a Type Identifier (TID) grid. This data set identifies the
type of source data that the corresponding grid cells in the GEBCO Grid are based on.
The table below details the coding of the GEBCO_2023 Type Identifier (TID) grid.
TID Definition
0 Land
Direct measurements
10 Singlebeam - depth value collected by a single beam echo-sounder
11 Multibeam - depth value collected by a multibeam echo-sounder
12 Seismic - depth value collected by seismic methods
13 Isolated sounding - depth value that is not part of a regular survey or trackline
14 ENC sounding - depth value extracted from an Electronic Navigation Chart (ENC)
15 Lidar - depth derived from a bathymetric lidar sensor
16 Depth measured by optical light sensor
17 Combination of direct measurement methods
Indirect measurements
40 Predicted based on satellite-derived gravity data - depth value is an interpolated
value guided by satellite-derived gravity data
41 Interpolated based on a computer algorithm - depth value is an interpolated value
based on a computer algorithm (e.g. Generic Mapping Tools)
42 Digital bathymetric contours from charts - depth value taken from a bathymetric
contour data set
43 Digital bathymetric contours from ENCs - depth value taken from bathymetric
contours from an Electronic Navigation Chart (ENC)
44 Bathymetric sounding - depth value at this location is constrained by bathymetric
sounding(s) within a gridded data set where interpolation between sounding points
is guided by satellite-derived gravity data
45 Predicted based on helicopter/flight-derived gravity data
46 Depth estimated by calculating the draft of a grounded iceberg using satellite-
derived freeboard measurement.
Unknown
70 Pre-generated grid - depth value is taken from a pre-generated grid that is based on
mixed source data types, e.g. single beam, multibeam, interpolation etc.
71 Unknown source - depth value from an unknown source
72 Steering points - depth value used to constrain the grid in areas of poor data
coverage
6. GEBCO Grid, Vertical and horizontal datum
The complete GEBCO_2023 data set provides global coverage, spanning 89° 59' 52.5''N,
179° 59' 52.5''W to 89° 59' 52.5''S, 179° 59' 52.5''E on a 15 arc-second geographic latitude
and longitude grid.
It consists of 43200 rows x 86400 columns, giving 3,732,480,000 data points. The data
values are pixel-centre registered i.e. they refer to elevations, in meters, at the centre of grid
cells.
The GEBCO grid can be assumed to be relative to WGS84.
GEBCO's global elevation models are generated by the assimilation of heterogeneous data
types, assuming all of them to be referred to Mean Sea Level. However, in some shallow
water areas, the grid includes data from sources having a vertical datum other than mean sea
level.
7. Data Dissemination
GEBCO's gridded data sets are made available in a number of different formats as described
in the following sections.
Global gridded data are available in each format as a ‘one-click’ download option from
https://www.gebco.net/data_and_products/gridded_bathymetry_data/.
User defined subsets can also be downloaded in the user selected format using the download
tool.
9.3 Disclaimer
• The GEBCO Grid should NOT be used for navigation or for any other purpose
involving safety at sea.
• The GEBCO Grid is made available 'as is'. While every effort has been made to
ensure reliability within the limits of present knowledge, the accuracy and
completeness of The GEBCO Grid cannot be guaranteed. No responsibility can be
accepted by GEBCO, IHO, IOC, or those involved in its creation or publication for
any consequential loss, injury or damage arising from its use or for determining the
fitness of The GEBCO Grid for any particular use.
• The GEBCO Grid is based on bathymetric data from many different sources of
varying quality and coverage.
• As The GEBCO Grid is an information product created by interpolation of measured
data, the resolution of The GEBCO Grid may be significantly different to that of the
resolution of the underlying measured data.
11. References
Danielson, J.J., and Gesch, D.B., 2011, Global multi-resolution terrain elevation data 2010
(GMTED2010): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1073, 26 p.
Hell, B and M Jakobsson (2011), Gridding heterogeneous bathymetric data sets with stacked
continuous curvature splines in tension, Mar. Geophys. Res., 32(4), 493-501,
doi:10.1007/s11001-011-9141-1.
Morlighem, M., C. Williams, E. Rignot, L. An, J. E. Arndt, J. Bamber, G. Catania, N.
Chauché, J. A. Dowdeswell, B. Dorschel, I. Fenty, K. Hogan, I. Howat, A. Hubbard, M.
Jakobsson, T. M. Jordan, K. K. Kjeldsen, R. Millan, L. Mayer, J. Mouginot, B. Noël, C.
O'Cofaigh, S. J. Palmer, S. Rysgaard, H. Seroussi, M. J. Siegert, P. Slabon, F. Straneo, M. R.
van den Broeke, W. Weinrebe, M. Wood, and K. Zinglersen. 2017. BedMachine v3:
Complete bed topography and ocean bathymetry mapping of Greenland from multi-beam
echo sounding combined with mass conservation, Geophysical Research Letters. 44. .
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074954
Morlighem, M., E. Rignot, T. Binder, D. D. Blankenship, R. Drews, G. Eagles, O. Eisen, F.
Ferraccioli, R. Forsberg, P. Fretwell, V. Goel, J. S. Greenbaum, H. Gudmundsson, J. Guo, V.
Helm, C. Hofstede, I. Howat, A. Humbert, W. Jokat, N. B. Karlsson, W. Lee, K. Matsuoka,
R. Millan, J. Mouginot, J. Paden, F. Pattyn, J. L. Roberts, S. Rosier, A. Ruppel, H. Seroussi,
E. C. Smith, D. Steinhage, B. Sun, M. R. van den Broeke, T. van Ommen, M. van Wessem,
and D. A. Young. 2020. Deep glacial troughs and stabilizing ridges unveiled beneath the
margins of the Antarctic ice sheet, Nature Geoscience. 13. 132-137.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0510-8
Sandwell, D.T., Harper, H., Tozer, B. and Smith, W.H., 2019. Gravity field recovery from
geodetic altimeter missions. Advances in Space Research.
Smith, W H F and D T Sandwell (1997). Global seafloor topography from satellite altimetry
and ship depth soundings, Science, v. 277, p. 1957-1962, 26 Sept.
Tozer, B, Sandwell, D. T., Smith, W. H. F., Olson, C., Beale, J. R., & Wessel, P. (2019).
Global bathymetry and topography at 15 arc sec: SRTM15+. Earth and Space Science. 6.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EA000658.