The data set consists of digital bathymetric contours taken from the International Bathymetric Chart of the Mediterranean (IBCM) chart series. Most of the IBCM sheets depict contours at depths at 0m (coastline), 20m, 50m, 100m, and 200m, and at 200m intervals thereafter, although the actual contours displayed vary slightly from sheet to sheet. The data set is included in the GEBCO Digital Atlas (GDA). Through the GDA software interface the IBCM bathymetric contours can be exported in ASCII or shapefile format. The 10 sheets of the IBCM chart series are on a Mercator Projection at a scale of 1:1 million (at 38 N). The Black Sea is included at a scale of 1:2 million. The IBCM (1st Edition) chart series was published by the Head Department of Navigation and Oceanography of the USSR Ministry of Defence, St. Petersburg, under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO 1981. The bathymetric contours and coastlines from the IBCM sheets were digitised. Error checking and quality control work on the data set was carried out at BODC. The digital data set was first made available in 1988.