Seabed 2030 and Five Deeps Sign Agreement
Seabed 2030 and the Five Deeps Expedition have signed an agreement which lays the groundwork for previously unexplored areas of the seafloor to be mapped and the resulting data made available for public use. Seabed 2030 is the collaborative project of The Nippon Foundation and GEBCO aspiring the complete seabed mapping by 2030.
In this cooperation with the Five Deeps Expedition, the world's first manned expedition to the deepest point in each of the five oceans, the Seabed project is ensured of data contributions in areas which would not have been collected otherwise. In addition to data gathered at trench sites, the Five Deeps Expedition has agreed to leave its sonar systems switched on while in transit in order to provide additional bathymetric data collected between these areas.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations was signed at the International Hydrographic Bureau in Monaco between Dr Graham Allen of Seabed 2030 and Victor Vescovo of The Five Deeps Expedition in the presence of Mathias Jonas, secretary general of the International Hydrographic Organization.
