Multibeam bathymetry raw data using the ship's own Kongsberg (Simrad) EM 120 multibeam echosounder was recorded during RV MARIA S. MERIAN cruise MSM20/5 en route to the main research working. Data was recorded on 19 days between 2012-04-12 and 2012-05-02. This dataset contains a systematic survey at the Mid-Ocean Ridge in the North Atlantic Ocean. Also, the Fresmen Seamount and Menner Seamount is surveyed. The approximate average depth of the entire dataset is around 4500m. The water depth varies between 2800m and 6400m.
The data are archived at the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, BSH) and provided to PANGAEA database for data curation and publication. No ancillary sound velocity profiles (SVP) files from the cruise are archived at the BSH, thus no SVP files are added to this dataset. However, data analysis of the multibeam raw data revealed that SVP has been changed during the survey.
This publication is conducted within the efforts of the German Marine Research Alliance in the core area 'Data management and Digitalization' (Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung, DAM).
Data are unprocessed and therefore contains incorrect depth measurements (artifacts) without further processing. Note that refraction errors can be expected due to the lack of proper SVP. Overall, it appears that the data quality is rather good since the gridded hillshade data showed relatively few obstacles.
Data can be processed e.g. with the open source software package MB-System (Caress, D. W., and D. N. Chayes, MB-System: Mapping the Seafloor, http://www.mbari.org/products/research-software/mb-system/, 2022).
