Using Sonar To Map The Ocean Floor

Despite this long history of mapping the seafloor only about 10 to 15 of the ocean has yet been mapped in high resolution.

Using sonar to map the ocean floor.

Sonar single beam. Tools used to map the ocean floor today s technology lets scientists to study the ocean in a quicker and precise way. 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. Sonar short for sound navigation and ranging is helpful for exploring and mapping the ocean because sound waves travel farther in the water than do radar and light waves.

The goal of this study is to generate high resolution sea floor maps using a side scan sonar sss. Sonar is a type of electronic depth sounding equiptment made in the 1920 s it is an acronym for sound navigation and ranging. The technique first used by german scientists in the early 20th century uses sound waves bounced off the ocean bottom. Second the data is projected to the sea floor.

There are three tools used to map the ocean floor sonar satellites and submersibles. The first modern breakthrough in sea floor mapping came with the use of underwater sound projectors called sonar which was first used in world war i. Mapping techniques have improved over time but only the use of sound sonar has permitted large scale high resolution seafloor measurements. 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.