Using Sonar To Map The Ocean Floor

Mapping techniques have improved over time but only the use of sound sonar has permitted large scale high resolution seafloor measurements.

Using sonar to map the ocean floor.

Tools used to map the ocean floor today s technology lets scientists to study the ocean in a quicker and precise way. First the raw sensor data is corrected by means of a physics based sss model. Sonar is a type of electronic depth sounding equiptment made in the 1920 s it is an acronym for sound navigation and ranging. By the 1920s the coast and geodetic survey an ancestor of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration s national ocean service was using sonar to map deep water.

This is achieved by explicitly taking into account the sss operation as follows. Noaa scientists primarily use sonar to develop nautical charts locate underwater hazards to navigation search for and map objects on the sea floor such as shipwrecks and map the sea floor itself. There are three tools used to map the ocean floor sonar satellites and submersibles. Second the data is projected to the sea floor.

The technique first used by german scientists in the early 20th century uses sound waves bounced off the ocean bottom. Despite this long history of mapping the seafloor only about 10 to 15 of the ocean has yet been mapped in high resolution. The goal of this study is to generate high resolution sea floor maps using a side scan sonar sss. Mapping the ocean floor with echo sounding echo sounding is the key method scientists use to map the seafloor today.