Visualising GEBCO: A new way of seeing the global oceans (2009)

A short overview of work-in-progress visualising the GEBCO dataset (General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans)

The visualisation involved developing a derived dataset from GEBCO in reference to WGS’84, where we have effectively ‘removed’ the entire Earth – all the continents, islands and geology above and below sea level.

What remains is the ocean – a global ocean that reveals its encompassing interconnectedness.

This remarkable view enables us to perceive the complex shape of the sea – and reflects upon our deeply terrestrial view of this volumetric world – which makes up 99% of the living space on the planet.

The model is derived from current high-resolution satellite data, enabling a variety of visualisation techniques to be explored, including 3D rapid prototyping – enabling you to hold the oceans in your hands.

More details can be found here:

http://www.petermorse.com.au/projects/benthos/

http://morse.anat.org.au/

http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/miscellaneous/oceans/

Special thanks to:

My collaborator Paul Bourke at the Western Australian Supercomputer Program (WASP, University of Western Australia);

The  Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) Synapse Residency and Australia Council for the Arts and to: Martin Riddle, Steve Nicols and Ben Raymond and other colleagues at the Australian Antarctic Division; Vicki Wadley at CAML

Last, and most, GEBCO and colleagues – thank you for your assiduous data – a major intellectual and observational achievement for humanity.

GEBCO fulldome visualisation