Walter Roest

Center for Coastal & Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center
Jere A. Chase Ocean Engineering Lab
24 Colovos Road
Durham, New Hampshire 03824

Walter Roest obtained a Ph.D. in marine geophysics from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. After a 3-year post doc at the Atlantic Geoscience Center (Bedford Institute in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada), he worked at the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), in Ottawa, Ontario, primarily on continental magnetic and gravity acquisition and interpretation. Over the years, he also occupied several management positions at the GSC.

In 2003, Walter was appointed director of the Marine Geosciences Department of Ifremer, the French Public Institute for Marine Research, in Brest, France. He led the French program for the extended continental shelf (ECS) in the framework of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea from 2003 to 2012, including many mapping cruises offshore the French overseas territories. He served as a member and one of the vice-presidents of the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf from 2012 to 2017. His research interests are in plate tectonics, fracture zones, the evolution of continental margins. He also participated actively in the development of several large-scale open access geophysical data compilations.

Walter Roest’s stay at CCOM is sparked by his interest in seafloor mapping, Seabed2030, the Map the Gaps initiative, the GEBCO/Nippon training program, as well as the ECS work in which CCOM is involved. His current research interests include: