The new Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the Brazilian Continental Margin: detailed morphology and revised undersea feature names

Abstract

This paper presents a new Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the Brazilian Continental Margin and provides a description of the main morphologic undersea features with updated nomenclature. The improved Brazilian DTM was developed with an extensive and integrated bathymetric dataset, composed by various sources, which were verified and qualified. A cross-over error analysis between all bathymetric data was done and the final bathymetric grid was created from a minimum curvature interpolating surface with established 2500-m grid cell size. The new DTM supports the Brazilian Submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1983) and represents the official seabed morphology of the Brazilian Continental Margin and its undersea feature names.