The Israel national bathymetric survey - A new look at the seafloor off Israel

Over the past six years the Israel national bathymetric survey (NBS) has undertaken a detailed mapping of the seafloor off Israel's Mediterranean and Red Sea margins, and, most recently, the Dead Sea. The NBS is a collaboration of the Geological Survey of Israel (GSI), the Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research (IOLR), and the Survey of Israel (SOI). Multibearn sonar is used to map a swath whose width is up to seven times the water depth. This brief note introduces the first detailed posters, derived from the NBS, of the area off northern Israel. Other posters are planned as the tremendous amounts of acquired bathymetric soundings are cleaned and prepared for publication.