Glossary

B-12

A guidance document created by the CSBWG and IHO to provide an outline of the technical “how-to” on CSB collection, metadata format, offset collection, and data contribution so that all Trusted Nodes follow the same format uniformly.

CSB

Crowd Sourced Bathymetry: The practice of utilizing a crowd or collection of vessels equipped with echosounders to collect data about the depth and shape of the seafloor using volunteer data.

CSBWG

Crowd Sourced Bathymetry Working Group: A group of hydrographic offices, universities, nonprofits, private companies, and other organizations interested in the utility of CSB which meets under the guidance of the IHO to determine directions for global collaboration and needs within this space.

DCDB

Data Center for Digital Bathymetry: Data Center co-located at NOAA’s NCEI, stores bathymetry data for all IHO initiatives including CSB, and is a major source for the Seabed2030 initiative.

IHO

International Hydrographic Organization: The organization that creates the structure for how we engage with Seabed2030 and global CSB initiatives. 

NCEI

National Centers for Environmental Information: Part of NOAA, NCEI provides environmental data, products, and services and co-hosts the IHO DCDB, which is responsible for CSB data validity, safe storage, data distribution, and more.

NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: The United States federal agency under which the DCDB and NCEI are co-located.

S-44

Publication that defines the standard applicable to hydrographic surveys and takes its place amongst the other IHO publications, designed to improve the safety of navigation, knowledge, and protection of the marine environment.

Seabed2030

A global initiative and United Nations Decade Action Program, which is supported by the Nippon Foundation, the IHO, NOAA, and GEBCO with the goal of mapping the entire seafloor by the year 2030 and providing this data as an open-access open-source resource.

Trusted Node

A designation that any organization can apply for which allows that organization to aggregate and directly contribute CSB data to the DCDB.