Research News

Seabed 2030 and Orange Force Marine Announce New Partnership

A new partnership has been announced between The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project and Orange Force Marine Ltd., a specialized commercial marine services company providing crowdsourced bathymetry solutions in support of the complete mapping of the ocean floor.

Orange Force Marine (OFM) offers a range of marine consulting services and survey solutions to its clients in industry, academia and government, as well as providing education and training services to reduce risk and enhance safety at sea. OFM recently brought to market an innovative approach which facilitates automatic data collection and transmission via the Mussel Crowdsourced Bathymetry (CSB) kit while data processing and distribution is performed via a cloud-based infrastructure.

This commercial initiative supports various industry, government and not for profit mapping efforts, and notably volunteer crowdsourced bathymetry activities. Championed by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and supported by the IHO Data Centre for Digital Bathymetry (DCDB), Seabed 2030 endorses OFM’s unique solution of robust and non-intrusive CSB units which enable seamless data transfer, without the need for operator intervention. The vessel-to-shore communications—handled via Wi-Fi or cellular or satellite —automatically transfer data to the IHO’s crowdsourced bathymetry database for storage, visualization, and analysis.

Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project between The Nippon Foundation and GEBCO to inspire the complete mapping of the world's ocean by 2030, and to compile all bathymetric data into the freely available GEBCO Ocean Map. GEBCO is a joint program of the IHO and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and is the only organization with a mandate to map the entire ocean floor. Seabed 2030 is formally endorsed as a Decade Action of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

“Crowdsourced data is of paramount importance to Seabed 2030’s endeavor,” commented Project Director Jamie McMichael-Phillips. “It enables everyone to play a part in contributing to the global effort towards a complete map of the ocean floor, which ultimately benefits us all.”

Derek Niles, Founder and President of Orange Force Marine, said: “At Orange Force Marine, we’re excited to partner with Seabed 2030, deliver crowdsourced bathymetry capability and manage a global fleet of participating vessels in support of the project’s ambitious goal. By enabling vessel owners to become directly involved in research initiatives and contribute to citizen science, opportunities for ocean mapping are significantly expanded.”

“The incremental contributions from the ‘crowd’ of vessels plying the world’s oceans are essential for achieving Seabed 2030’s goal of completely mapping the global seabed, given that just under 80 percent currently remains unexplored.”

All data collected and shared with the Seabed 2030 project is included in the GEBCO global grid, which is free and publicly available.

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