International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO)

Martin Jakobsson, Rezwan Mohammad, Marcus Karlsson, Silvia Salas-Romero, Florian Vacek, Florian Heinze, Caroline Bringensparr, Carlos F. Castro, Paul Johnson, Juliet Kinney, Sara Cardigos, Michael Bogonko, Daniela Accettella, David Amblas, Angelika Brandt, Miquel Canals, José Luis Casamor, Bernard Coakley, Natalie Cornish, Seth Danielson, Maurizio Demarte, Davide Di Franco, Mary-Lynn Dickson, Boris Dorschel, Julian A. Dowdeswell, Alice C. Fremand, Bryan Hally, David Holland, Roberta Ivaldi, Diana W. Krawczyk, Galderic Lastras, Caroline Leck, Renata G. Lucchi, Giuseppe Masetti, Mathieu Morlighem, Tove Nielsen, Riko Noormets, Andreia Plaza-Faverola, Megan M. Prescott, Tine L. Rasmussen, Michele Rebesco, Eric Rignot, Søren Rysgaard, Anna Silyakova, Pauline Snoeijs-Leijonmalm, Aqqaluk Sørensen, Fiammetta Straneo, David A. Sutherland, Alex J. Tate, Nicole Trenholm, Esmee van Wijk, Luke Wallace, Joshua K. Willis, Michael Wood, Mark Zimmermann, Karl B. Zinglersen, Larry Mayer

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) is a bathymetry map detailing the seafloor depth in the Arctic Ocean at a resolution of 100 × 100 metres.

Bathymetry is significant for a multitude of marine scientific studies. Since 1997, IBCAO has been the authoritative source of bathymetry for the Arctic Ocean. Here, we present the latest update of IBCAO, Version 5.1, which offers a resolution four times as high as Version 4.0, and with over 25% of the Arctic Ocean now mapped with individual depth soundings.

The bathymetry map covers the Arctic Ocean in a square centered on the North Pole, stretching from just south of Iceland along the prime meridian to the Bering Strait along the anti-prime meridian. The source data used to compile the map is collected over many decades, spanning from at least the 1950s to the 2020s and is acquired using several measuring methods, e.g. multi- and single-beam echo sounders. The direct measurements are sparse; hence, indirect measurements have also been used, such as contours and soundings digitised from depth charts. Where no measurements exist, a spline function has been used to fill in the empty spaces with interpolated data.

The IBCAO gridded bathymetry can also be downloaded as a geographic grid with a resolution of 15x15 arc seconds from the GEBCO website.

MarineBathymetryArctic OceanBathymetryMappingSeafloorIBCAO

Name

Version

Citation

References

Jakobsson M, Mohammad R, Karlsson M, Salas-Romero S, Vacek F, Heinze F, Bringensparr C, Castro CF, Johnson P, Kinney J, Cardigos S, Bogonko M, Accettella D, Amblas D, An L, Bohan A, Brandt A, Bünz S, Canals M, Casamor JL, Coakley B, Cornish N, Danielson S, Demarte M, Di Franco D, Dickson M-L, Dorschel B, Dowdeswell JA, Dreutter S, Fremand AC, Hall JK, Hally B, Holland D, Hong JK, Ivaldi R, Knutz PC, Krawczyk DW, Kristofferson Y, Lastras G, Leck C, Lucchi RG, Masetti G, Morlighem M, Muchowski J, Nielsen T, Noormets R, Plaza-Faverola A, Prescott MM, Purser A, Rasmussen TL, Rebesco M, Rignot E, Rysgaard S, Silyakova A, Snoeijs-Leijonmalm P, Sørensen A, Straneo F, Sutherland DA, Tate AJ, Travaglini P, Trenholm N, van Wijk E, Wallace L, Willis JK, Wood M, Zimmermann M, Zinglersen KB, Mayer L (2024) The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean Version 5.0. Scientific Data 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-04278-w

Data description

The IBCAO 5.1 dataset covers the Arctic Ocean and is provided by the following four GeoTIFF raster files and one metadata table.

ibcao-2025-100m-20250526-ice.tiff

Seafloor depth and land topography in each 100x100 meter grid cell with above-ice heights topography for the Greenland ice sheet

ibcao-2025-100m-20250526-depth.tiff

Seafloor depth and land topography in each 100x100 meter grid cell with below-ice depths for the Greenland ice sheet

ibcao-2025-100m-20250526-sid.tiff

Unique source identification number (SID) that shows which source dataset was used to map each 100x100 meter grid cell

ibcao-2025-100m-20250526-tid.tiff

Measurement method used to map each 100x100 meter grid cell according to the GEBCO standard Type Identifier.

ibcao-2025-source-data.csv

Table of source data used to compile the bathymetric chart. The table is comma-separated and includes the following nine columns:

• Number number of each source
• Source name of each source
• Description brief description of each source
• Contributor(s) organizations providing the data for each source
• Region(s) region where the data can be found for each source
• Dataset(s) how many datasets of which type are used for each source
• Cruise(s) / Survey(s) which cruises or surveys are provided for each source
• Reference(s) available references such as research articles or cruise reports for each source
• Further information website links for more information for each source

The coordinate system of the GeoTIFF raster files is Polar Stereographic projection co-ordinates (meters), EPSG 3996, with true scale set at 75°N. The resolution of all rasters is 100 meters x 100 meters.

The two depth raster files have the following datum and units.

• The horizontal datum for the data set is WGS84 and the vertical datum can be assumed to be Mean Sea Level (however, note there may be datum issues for older data, which can be to chart datum).
• Elevation values are in meters below the surface (floating point).

Comments

This dataset should not be used for navigation or for any other purpose involving safety at sea.

The dataset is available for download from GEBCO in various different resolutions and formats. The dataset is a gridded bathymetry map of the Arctic Ocean with data from a large number of sources and methods, including multibeam sonar, single-beam sonar, compilations, interpolations, and digitized chart contours. Many contributors and organizations have provided data for use in the grid, and a full list of datasets and contributing sources will be available in the Nature article. The purpose of the grid is for scientific interest in the ocean floor topography of the Arctic Ocean, and the grid is not to be used for navigation or any other purpose involving safety at sea. The IBCAO compilation work forms a part of the Nippon-Foundation-GEBCO-Seabed 2030 project, which is funded by the Nippon Foundation of Japan. We are truly grateful for all data contributors who agreed to contribute to IBCAO 5.0. These consist of a broad range of agencies and institutions. Open access funding was provided by Stockholm University. The computations used for the production of the IBCAO 5.0 grid were enabled by resources provided by the National Academic Infrastructure for Supercomputing in Sweden (NAISS), partially funded by the Swedish Research Council through grant agreement no. 2022-06725.

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) was initiated 1997 and has since been the authoritative source of bathymetry for the Arctic Ocean. In 2017, IBCAO merged its efforts with the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO-Seabed 2030 Project, with the goal of mapping the global seafloor by 2030. The aim of the IBCAO is to develop a digital grid based on all available bathymetric data north of 64° North, for use by mapmakers, researchers, institutions, and others whose work requires a detailed and accurate knowledge of the depth and the shape of the Arctic seabed. Version 5.0 of the data set is available download. The IBCAO grid is used for the Arctic region in the global GEBCO grid. As a part of GEBCO, the work of the IBCAO is endorsed by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).

Version history

Version 5.1

Minor increase in seafloor data in the central Arctic Ocean, Greenland coastal waters, the North Sea, Fram Strait, Bering Sea, and Beaufort Sea, as well as numerous corrections of errors and seafloor inconsistencies. Updates to several large data compilations, such as BedMachine Greenland, Mareano, and EMODnet.

Version 5.0

Major increase of seafloor data in the central Arctic Ocean, Greenland coastal waters, the North Sea, Fram Strait, Bering Sea, and Beaufort sea, as well as numerous corrections of errors and seafloor inconsistencies. Resolution increased from 200 meters to 100 meters.

Version 4.0

Significant increases of seafloor data in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Fram Strait, Iceland Sea, Greenland Sea, the central Arctic Ocean, Beaufort Sea, Bering Sea, and coastal Greenland waters. Resolution increased from 500 meters to 200 meters.

Version 3.0

Large increase of seafloor data particularly in the Fram Strait, South Greenland, and Beaufort Sea. Resolution increased from 2000 meters to 500 meters.

Publisher

GEBCO - The General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans

License

First name

Martin

Last name or organisation

Jakobsson

Email address

martin.jakobsson@geo.su.se

Address

Department of Geological Sciences; Stockholm University

Postal code

SE-106 91

City

Stockholm

Country

Sweden

GCMD science keyword

Earth science > Oceans > Bathymetry/seafloor topography > Bathymetry

GCMD location

Geographic Region > Arctic

Dataset language

English

Begin date

1958-01-01

End date

2025-05-26

DOI

Time

Versions

• 5.2 2026-06-09T08:06:48.199+00:00
• 5.1 2025-12-16T12:01:39.741+00:00
• 5.0 2025-11-26T11:01:06.377+00:00
• 5.0 2024-11-18T14:09:21.811014+00:00
• 4.0 2024-11-18T14:03:14.655391+00:00
• 5.0 2024-11-06T09:39:50.557183+00:00
• 4.0 2024-11-06T09:31:01.66667+00:00
• 3.0 2024-11-06T09:19:30.566286+00:00
• 3.0 2024-10-21T11:12:56.632127+00:00
• 3.0 2022-02-01T14:50:44.015578+00:00
• 3 2022-02-01T10:01:16.657587+00:00
• 3 2022-01-26T13:47:42.492244+00:00
• 3 2022-01-19T12:00:27.171828+00:00
• 3 2022-01-19T11:52:29.726721+00:00
• 3 2013-03-27T16:21:01+00:00