GEBCO, the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans, is a global seafloor mapping program under the auspices of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.
GEBCO was established in 1903 in Wiesbaden, Germany, in the course of the committee meeting on ocean nomenclature and charting, chaired by Prince Albert I of Monaco (Carpine-Lancre et al., 2003).
Five editions of GEBCO were published until 1983. The 5th edition was digitized and used for the development of the GEBCO Digital Atlas (GDA). With the latest version, published at the event of the GEBCO Centenary 2003 (GDA-CE), GEBCO entered the era of digital bathymetry. The GDA-CE includes also undersea feature names and is continuously updated with new single and multibeam soundings.
GEBCO is directed by a Guiding Committee which organizes the work of the subcommittees and acts for GEBCO toward the parent organizations. It supervises...