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The Use of Bathymetric Data in Society and Science: A Review from the Baltic Sea

AMBIO volume 41, pages 138–150 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Bathymetry, the underwater topography, is a fundamental property of oceans, seas, and lakes. As such it is important for a wide range of applications, like physical oceanography, marine geology, geophysics and biology or the administration of marine resources. The exact requirements users may have regarding bathymetric data are, however, unclear. Here, the results of a questionnaire survey and a literature review are presented, concerning the use of Baltic Sea bathymetric data in research and for societal needs. It is demonstrated that there is a great need for detailed bathymetric data. Despite the abundance of high-quality bathymetric data that are produced for safety of navigation purposes, the digital bathymetric models publicly available to date cannot satisfy this need. Our study shows that DBMs based on data collected for safety of navigation could substantially improve the base data for administrative decision making as well as the possibilities for marine research in the Baltic Sea.

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Acknowledgements

B.H. was supported by the Swedish Maritime Administration and Stockholm University to carry out the work in this article. Comments by Jan Backman have significantly improved this manuscript. The authors are grateful for the valuable comments by two anonymous reviewers.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, 10 691, Stockholm, Sweden

    Benjamin Hell & Martin Jakobsson

  2. Rossby Centre, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, 60 176, Norrköping, Sweden

    Barry Broman

  3. Swedish Maritime Administration, 60 178, Norrköping, Sweden

    Lars Jakobsson, Åke Magnusson & Patrik Wiberg

Authors
  1. Benjamin Hell
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  2. Barry Broman
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  3. Lars Jakobsson
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  4. Martin Jakobsson
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  5. Åke Magnusson
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  6. Patrik Wiberg
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Correspondence to Benjamin Hell.

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Hell, B., Broman, B., Jakobsson, L. et al. The Use of Bathymetric Data in Society and Science: A Review from the Baltic Sea. AMBIO 41, 138–150 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0192-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0192-y

Keywords

  • Bathymetry
  • Coastal environment
  • Mapping
  • Geospatial data
  • Baltic Sea