Initial Efforts Toward Coordinated Community Data Processing to
Accelerate the Growth of Publicly Available Bathymetric Data Products
Abstract
The Global Multi-Resolution Topography (GMRT) Synthesis is an elevation
model that includes curated deep-water multibeam bathymetry data at
~100 m resolution covering more than 9% of the ocean.
GMRT is built with a scalable tiled raster architecture that efficiently
stores and presents high-resolution elevation data nested within low
resolution data. A set of tools are available for users to access the
compilation through simple user interfaces (e.g. GMRT MapTool) and web
services, while also providing full attribution and access to source
swath files. The availability of raw/unprocessed multibeam sonar data in
the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) archive has
increased dramatically over the last decade, but transforming these data
into high-quality integrated products suitable for use by scientists and
the public alike requires significant effort. The GMRT Team has built
workflows and tools for data preparation and review that are optimized
for cleaning and integrating sparse globally distributed multibeam data,
enabling the addition of ~60-80 research cruises per
year. Once raw swath data files are cleaned and corrected, they are
gridded/tiled with the GMRT Tiling tools so they can be reviewed and
quality controlled in the context of other data in the GMRT Synthesis.
Working with processed swath files generated by the community, we have
observed that this process frequently reveals issues that are overlooked
during data processing. In order to accelerate the rate of data
integration and leverage the data processing efforts of the community,
GMRT Tiling tools are being adapted for distributed use. Ocean
Exploration Trust is an initial partner in this effort, and all
processed swath files from the 2017-2019 Nautilus field seasons were
prepared with GMRT Tiling tools and reviewed by the OET team. This
revealed problems in processed swath data files from several cruises
that were addressed prior to submission to NCEI, thereby improving the
quality of data in the archive. We are now working to include the GMRT
Tiling tools into at-sea standard operating procedures of the Nautilus
as a testbed for broader community distribution, to ensure consistent
quality of processed multibeam data, and to accelerate the production of
high-quality integrated data products including GMRT and Seabed 2030.