Abstract. High-resolution bathymetry is a critical resource for marine research, underpinning seafloor characterisation, benthic habitat mapping, geomorphological analyses, and marine spatial planning. In the Red Sea, however, publicly accessible high-resolution bathymetric data remain extremely limited along the eastern margin. Existing regional products such as the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) provide only coarse resolution coverage, and detailed surveys have historically been concentrated along the central axis rather than the Saudi Arabian shelf and slope. Here, we present a high-resolution bathymetric dataset acquired during the 2022 Red Sea Decade Expedition (RSDE) along the Saudi Arabian margin of the Red Sea (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19065211, Marchese et al., 2026). Multibeam echosounder surveys span approximately 860 km of coastline and extend from shallow coastal waters to deep-sea environments, covering depths from ∼ 2 m > 2460 m. Data were acquired using multiple platforms and processed through a standardised workflow to produce a unified digital bathymetric model. Grid resolutions are 5 m for the shallow-water data and 40 m for the deep-water data, covering a total of 49 418.7 km2 of seafloor. This dataset provides unprecedented spatial coverage of the eastern Red Sea seafloor and represents a key resource for marine sciences and marine spatial planning in a region where available detailed bathymetry has historically been limited.
Fabio Marchese, M. E. Ezeta Watts, Megan K. B. Nolan et al.· Earth System Science Data· 0 citations
ABSTRACT Earth's biodiversity is central to ecosystem health and resilience, providing essential functions and services. The Red Sea is a recognised marine biodiversity hotspot with high endemism and unique environmental conditions that support extensive but poorly resolved biodiversity. Here, we applied metagenomic analyses to sediment samples collected from coastal to deep‐sea environments during the Red Sea Decade Expedition 2022 to characterise biodiversity across the web of life. From a single shotgun assay per sample, this approach simultaneously characterised the sediment microbiome, which amplicon‐based surveys recover only through parallel, targeted assays, and extended detection to higher eukaryotes. Using high‐throughput sequencing, we generated 12.8 billion sequences, revealing taxa covering all domains of life. Although eukaryotic sequences represented only 0.7% of the taxonomically annotated dataset, we managed to identify 679 eukaryotic families. Prokaryotic diversity was high, as expected in a basin‐scale sampling coupled with high sequencing depth, with groups covering a wide functional array. Community structure analyses revealed depth‐driven stratification of open‐ocean benthic microbial communities and latitudinal structuring of coastal benthic eukaryotes. Overall, this dataset provides an empirical reliability–coverage trade‐off with direct consequences for the design of eDNA monitoring programmes targeting conservation‐priority taxa, and clear priorities for taxa specific reference‐database expansion.
Elisa Laiolo, Christopher A. Hempel, Balegh A. Abukabbos et al.· Environmental Microbiology· 0 citations
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