Raw bathymetry data were collected using the ship's own Kongsberg EM120 multibeam echosounder during the RV MARIA S. MERIAN cruise MSM11/2 (Pre-Site Survey for an IODP cruise Neogene Paleoclimate and sediment transport at the continental margin of NW Africa). The cruise took place between 2009-03-14 and 2009-04-09 (Dakar, Senegal – Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain). Bathymetry data were recorded continuously in five working areas spanning the African continental margin from the Senegal and Gambia river deltas to Cape Bojador. Research permissions were provided by the Ministries of Foreign Affaires of the countries of Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco, and Spain. The data are archived at the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie, BSH) and provided to PANGAEA database for data curation and publication. No sound velocity profiles (SVP) files from the cruise are archived at the BSH, thus no SVP files are added to this dataset. Data are unprocessed and therefore contain incorrect depth measurements (artifacts). Data can be processed e.g. with the open source software package MB-System (Caress, D. W., and D. N. Chayes, MB-System: Mapping the Seafloor, http://www.mbari.org/products/research-software/mb-system/, 2022).

These data should not be used for navigational purposes.This data submission was prepared by Evgenia Bazhenova (MARUM).