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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ESSDD</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Earth System Science Data Discussions</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ESSDD</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">1866-3591</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name></publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/essd-2026-317</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>The first regional‑scale multibeam echosounder bathymetric dataset of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Marchese</surname>
<given-names>Fabio</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8384-3019</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ezeta Watts</surname>
<given-names>Marta Andrea</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Nolan</surname>
<given-names>Megan Klein Breteler</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Dunn</surname>
<given-names>Natalie</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>von Krusenstiern</surname>
<given-names>Katherine</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Foy</surname>
<given-names>Craig</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Rodrigue</surname>
<given-names>Mattie</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Qurban</surname>
<given-names>Mohammed</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Duarte</surname>
<given-names>Carlos Manuel</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Pieribone</surname>
<given-names>Vincent</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Benzoni</surname>
<given-names>Francesca</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and  Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955,  Saudi Arabia</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Marine Science Program, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah  University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955,  Saudi Arabia</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>OceanX, New York, NY, 10018, United States</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>National Center for Wildlife Development, Riyadh, 12411, Saudi Arabia</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>08</day>
<month>05</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>16</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Fabio Marchese et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-317/">This article is available from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-317/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-317/essd-2026-317.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-317/essd-2026-317.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>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. Multibeam echosounder surveys span approximately 860 km of coastline and extend from shallow coastal waters to deep-sea environments, covering depths from ~2 m to &amp;gt;2,460 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 km&amp;sup2; 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.</p>
</abstract>
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