echosondy
Echosondy, known in English as echosounders, are sonar devices used to measure water depth and map underwater features. They operate by emitting a short acoustic pulse into the water and recording the time it takes for the echo to return from the seabed or other objects. Depth is calculated from the travel time and the speed of sound in water, which depends on temperature, salinity, and pressure. Because water conditions influence sound speed, many systems apply corrections or use local sound velocity profiles for accurate measurements.
A typical echosounder system comprises a transducer, a transmitter, a receiver and signal processor, and a display
Configurational variations include single-beam echosounders, which emit from a single point, and multi-beam echosounders, which use
In practice, echosounder data may be combined with motion and GPS data to produce georeferenced bathymetric