New Zealand bathymetry - Coastal Chart Series

Charts of coastal bathymetry, sediment, and other information are available for purchase from NIWA (1:200,000). The 250m resolution gridded bathymetric data set encompasses New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone and is available in multiple high-resolution file formats to suit a range of imagery and mapping needs. Purpose: Data is collected and presented to provide information about the bathymetry and sediments of the seabed, throughout New Zealand.

NIWA produces a variety of Bathymetric Charts that cover coastal New Zealand and many offshore areas. Bathymetric charts show the depth of the ocean contoured into lines of equal depth (bathymetry) and are particularly useful for pinpointing pinnacles, holes, and other bottom features. A sediment edition that illustrates the nature of the bottom type (rock, sand, gravel, and so on) is available for some of these same areas. A full list of available charts can be found at the link given below.

National

1960s - present

Echo soundings Frequency of collection varied

Reliability has variable score of 'A = numerous echo-soundings' which generally covers most of the enclosed waters and some near-shore coast; and 'B = adequate echo soundings' which covers mainly off-shore waters.

Charts available as printed posters, or in digital format as outlined below. Various image formats, Esri ASCII, Esri Binary, Mapinfo Interchange, Esri shapefile.

Seabed exploration

Data is available through an open licencing agreement - see NIWA website.

Complete - data collection ongoing.

Related information: Coastal Chart Series - Sediments