Abstract:

A digital bathymetric model is a topographic map showing the underwater depth of the seafloor. On the Ross Sea shelf, ice sheet advance and retreat create submarine glacial landforms of different shapes and sizes. Interpretation of these landforms requires the support of a high-resolution digital bathymetric model. A high-resolution digital bathymetric model of the Ross Sea with 50-meter grid spacing was created from multi-beam bathymetric data acquired on 36 international sea voyages and the GEBCO_2014 grid bathymetric data. The multi-beam bathymetric data came from different survey vessels, echo-soundings, and voyages, which makes data fusion and accuracy assessment difficult. Generic Mapping Tools were used to calculate nadir-beam crossover-error statistics to assess data accuracy. Fusion of data from two sources and with different accuracies was conducted using the remove-restore method. Compared with the International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean, our high-resolution digital bathymetric model can highlight submarine micro-topographic features more clearly, especially the geomorphological features created during glacier advance and retreat. Therefore, our model can be used to support the interpretation of submarine glacial landforms and the comprehensive geophysical research tasks that are taking place in the Ross Sea.

Key words: Ross Sea, bathymetric data, accuracy assessment, digital bathymetric model, glacial landforms