Center Role
The South and West Pacific Center acts as the regional focus for data compilation and co-ordination activities for Seabed 2030 in the South and West Pacific region.
The Center has responsibility over 123 million km2 of ocean from South America to Australia, between 10°N and 50°S, and the western part of the Pacific Ocean to 50°N. The region includes the world’s deepest trenches, internal seas, and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) from Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT). In the most remote regions, bathymetric data originate from existing ship tracks that are spaced up to 100 km apart.
The center is based at the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and is one of Seabed 2030’s network of regional and global centers.
Center Overview
The center is coordinated by a Technical Management Committee consisting of staff from: the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS Science) and Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), which hosts the New Zealand Hydrographic Office.
For the last 50 years NIWA and its predecessor, the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute (NZOI), have been pioneers in seafloor landmark discovery around Aotearoa-New Zealand, including active faults and volcanoes.
Ms Jaya Roperez, an alumnus of the Nippon Foundation/GEBCO Postgraduate Training Program at the University of New Hampshire and member of the XPRIZE-winning team, was recruited in March 2021 as the Seabed 2030 Data Manager for the center.
The South and West Pacific Center’s 2018 delivery populated ca. 13.3% (~16.5 million km2) of the GEBCO 2019 Grid. The main contributions included the high-resolution depth models for Northern Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, the New Zealand bathymetry compilation, and numerous multibeam data collected by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), the Japan Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department (JHOD), and the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI, Germany). The compilation includes multibeam echosounder data from GMRT v.3.5.
Connections with Regional Hydrographic Offices around and within the Pacific are providing substantial data input to Seabed 2030. Of note is the strong connection established with the AusSeabed national seabed mapping coordination program.
Promotion of the Seabed 2030 Project has featured prominently in the activities of the center, with more than 30 conference attendances, stakeholder meetings, and media interviews over the first 18 months of activity. The center is continually seeking opportunities to enhance its visibility and activity in the region and boost contribution from all potential partners. Coordination with the Pacific Community (SPC) is expected to bring more engagement of PICTs with the Project.
