Record-breaking five million square kilometres of seabed mapped last year
The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project has announced that 28.7% of the world's ocean floor has now been charted, with nearly five million square kilometres of new data added in the past year, setting a new record for the project. While this is certainly strong progress, with nearly three quarters of the global seabed still uncharted and the year 2030 approaching rapidly, the pace will need to accelerate.
The progress announcement was made at the International Hydrographic Organization Assembly in Monaco, where delegations from 104 nations convened to assess global hydrographic progress and set priorities. The gathering reflects growing institutional recognition that ocean mapping is no longer a niche scientific endeavour; it is critical infrastructure. Monaco is an apt setting. It was Prince Albert I who in 1903 first championed a coordinated global effort to chart the seafloor, laying the foundation for what became GEBCO. More than a century later, the map is filling in, but the work – and the opportunity – remains vast.
Ocean mapping has long been the preserve of a handful of wealthy maritime nations. That is changing. Over the past year, 15 new organizations joined the effort to chart the world's seabed, with first-time contributions from Malaysia, Morocco, Papua New Guinea and Saudi Arabia, among others. The total now stands at 220 contributing organizations, collectively responsible for mapping 104 million square kilometres of ocean floor, an area equivalent to more than two thirds of the Earth's entire land surface.
Commenting on the announcement, Seabed 2030 Director Jamie McMichael-Phillips said: “This update reflects what the global community can achieve when data is shared openly and collaboratively. Seabed 2030 exists to help bring those contributions together, and we are seeing that collective effort translate into meaningful results. We are grateful to The Nippon Foundation and GEBCO for their ongoing support, which enables us to accelerate progress towards a complete map of the ocean floor.”
Robust foundation for ocean science
Announcing the update, Mitsuyuki Unno, executive director of The Nippon Foundation, said: “The progress reflected in the 2026 Grid demonstrates what can be achieved through sustained international collaboration. At The Nippon Foundation, we are committed to supporting people and organizations working to deepen our understanding of the ocean, and to strengthening the connections between them – helping to ensure that knowledge of the seabed can be built upon and passed on to future generations.”
Evert Flier, GEBCO chair, added: “The GEBCO Grid is a global, collaborative dataset that brings together bathymetric data from a wide range of sources into a consistent and authoritative reference. This is the work of hundreds of people from around the world, working behind the scenes and forming an ever-growing GEBCO community. With each update, it provides an increasingly robust foundation for ocean science and related applications – and today’s announcement reflects the steady progress being made in building a more complete picture of the ocean floor.”
Regional coverage gains in 2026 were significant in several areas. The ROPME Sea Area more than tripled its mapped coverage, rising from 6.4% to 20.5%, while the Eastern Atlantic, North Indian Ocean, Meso American and Caribbean Sea, and North Sea all recorded meaningful advances. Multiple Exclusive Economic Zones also posted notable increases at the national level.
