BOEM Northern Gulf of Mexico Bathymetry

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management makes publically available a new deepwater bathymetry grid of the northern Gulf of Mexico, created by utilizing 3D seismic data which covers more than 90,000 square miles ( Figure 1 ). The grid provides enhanced resolution compared to existing public bathymetry maps over the region, delivering 10 to 50 times increased horizontal resolution of the salt mini-basin province, abyssal plain, Mississippi Fan, and the Florida Shelf/Escarpment. To create the grid the seafloor was interpreted on over one-hundred 3D seismic time-migrated surveys, then mosaicked together and converted to depth in feet. The grid consists of 1.4 billion, 40-by-40 ft defined cells covering water depths –130 to –11,087 ft (–40 to –3,379 m). The average error is calculated to be 1.3 percent of water depth. The 3D seismic data used in its creation possess native horizontal resolution ranging from 41 to 123 ft, depending on the acquisition and processing parameters, and contains dominant frequencies of 10 to 50 Hz at the seafloor. Average horizontal resolution may be considered roughly 50 ft, with maximum bathymetry errors occurring on the shelf and uppermost slope in water generally shallower than 500 ft (150 m). Due to the filesize of the grid, some downloadable products are split into Eastern and Western halves for data manageability and computer performance reasons. Contour datasets in varying intervals are also available. References Kramer, K. V., and W. W. Shedd (2017), A 1.4-billion-pixel map of the Gulf of Mexico seafloor, Eos , 98, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017EO073557