Bathymetric study of the Bay of Bengal based on open source satellite and sounding data

Bathymetry or underwater mapping is an important tool to understand the bottom topography of any water body. It ensures safe and fastest navigation. Furthermore, commercial fisheries and sailors use them to prevent shipwrecks while scientist use them to predict the extent of natural devastations, to explore the unexplored regions, to better understanding of the nature of waves, tides and currents and to study Paleobathymetry etc. An attempt has been taken to produce a bottom topographic 3D map using open source sounding and satellite data available for the Bay of Bengal area. Topographic data has been collected from the Environmental Research Division's Data Access Program (ERDDAP) live server under griddap protocol. Swatch of no ground, found at the northern part of the bay was most probably due to the heavy sedimentation load from the upper streams of the mighty river systems. Likewise, except the uneven features have been observed at 85°E longitude in between 14°N to 7°N known as 85°E ridge, rest part of the ridge was found to be buried under the huge sediment load. An unidentified bathymetric positive elevation in between 86.0°E to 86.4°E and 6.2°N to 6.7°N with a height of 250 m suggested some tectonic or geophysical activities around the elevation. The Ninety East Ridge, most prominent and important feature, was found to be headed at the Bay of Bengal with height variation of 1000 to 1500m.