Multibeam bathymetry raw data using the ship's own Kongsberg EM 122 multibeam echosounder was almost continuously recorded during RV SONNE cruise SO245. Data was recorded on 33 days between 2015-12-23 and 2016-01-26. This dataset contains a transit survey in the South Pacific Ocean (during transit also crossing the flank of the Leont'ev Seamount). The approximate average depth of the entire dataset is around 4400m. 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. Ancillary sound velocity profiles (SVP) files from the cruise are archived at the BSH, thus SVP files are added to this dataset. Data analysis of the multibeam raw data revealed that SVP has been changed during the survey. This publication is conducted within the efforts of the German Marine Research Alliance in the core area 'Data management and Digitalization' (Deutsche Allianz Meeresforschung, DAM). Data are unprocessed and therefore contains incorrect depth measurements (artifacts) without further processing. Note that refraction errors can be expected due to the lack of proper SVP. Overall, it appears that the data quality is rather good since the gridded hillshade data showed relatively few obstacles. Data can be processed e.g. with the open source software package MB-System (Caress et al. 2024, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6302801).

These data should not be used for navigational purposes.Data publishing was realized by Daniel Damaske, MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (University Bremen).