Kiribati - Tarawa, 2005, Bathymetry Chart, 1 : 100 000 #1

High-resolution bathymetric mapping survey was carried out for Kiribati Islands around Abaiang, Tarawa, Abemama, Banaba and Onotoa. The survey was carried out over a period of six weeks in September and October 2005, resulting in the acquisition of over 900 km of multibeam echo sounder (MBES) data. Resultant data compilation was used to produce bathymetry charts including Tarawa bathymetry chart and is available for download from its appropriate link under Distribution Info. This work was initiated by the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and the European Union (EU) Reducing Vulnerability of Pacific ACP States Project.Charts provides information about water depths around the island. The bathymetric maps should also give descriptive picture of the ocean bottom terrain , vividly revealing the size, shape and distribution of underwater features . They can also serve as the basic tool for scientific , engineering , marine geophysical and environment studies as well as marine and coastal resource management.Tarawa is an atoll island rising from an ocean floor more than 4000 m deep. It has the typical atoll configuration of reefs (129 km2) with small islands (totalling 31 km2) surrounding a central lagoon (329 km2).Tarawa is located at approximately latitude 1 deg 22'47" N, longitude 173deg 09'06" E.Approximately 3 km offshore on all sides and a maximum depth coverage of 1300m of the area was covered by the multibeam echo sounder system survey (MBES).The Tarawa survey achieved 100% coverage of the seafloor from approximately 50m depths of some 1 700m.