What Methods Do Scientists Use to Determine the Bathymetry of the Ocean

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The Answer is Scientists use information from many differences sources to get a clearer idea of the details of the ocean floor. Echo sounders are used to bounce sound waves off the seafloor. A beam of sound waves is emitted from a ship at the surface and as they hit the bottom, the sound waves are reflected back to the ship. The depth is determined by D=V (T/2) where V is the velocity of the sound waves, T is time it takes for the sound waves to travel away from and back to the ship. Another method is called a multi-beam echo sounder system which uses many beams (up to 121) that radiate from a ship. When the ship moves along a transect pattern, like mowing the lawn, the echo sounder information from all the beams combined gives scientists a fairly accurate map of greater areas of the ocean floor. A third system uses satellites to gather information about the ocean floor. Since satellites cannot measure the ocean floor directly, they measure small variations in the elevation of the surface water. Features of the ocean floor can be determined by measuring subtle irregularities of the sea surface. Lastly remote operated vehicles or deep sea submersibles descend to the deep sea to measure, photograph and collect information about the ocean floor.

What Methods Do Scientists Use to Determine the Bathymetry of the Ocean

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