Assembling the Bathymetric Puzzle to Create a Global Ocean Map

Bathymetry data are fundamental ocean observations that are important for a variety of applications including exploration and research, habitat mapping, resource management, coastal and ocean resilience, and policy decisions. Despite the importance of these data, the majority of the ocean, and our planet, remains unmapped. As a result, we lack comprehensive integrated data and information products at the resolutions necessary to address fundamental questions about subaqueous environments. With the increasing availability of mapping technology, advances in computing and data science, and an evolving culture that embraces data sharing, there are new opportunities to produce high-quality, publicly available, integrated bathymetry data products. Coordinated efforts with grand aspirations to completely map the world's oceans come at a pivotal time as we confront global challenges related to a changing planet. Through coordination and collaboration across communities, scales, and sectors, we can accelerate toward delivering data and information products that are useful to society while developing strong collaborative relationships that will have long-lasting effects. The technical and collaborative approaches developed for completely mapping the world ocean can be applied to systematic mapping efforts in other subaqueous environments and can benefit initiatives such as Lakebed 2030.