swath

A swath is a long, broad strip or belt of land or material created by cutting, mowing, or passing through. The spelling swathe is common in British English when referring to bands or wraps, while swath is the more typical form in many other contexts. The term is used across several disciplines to describe a distinctive track or band left behind by movement or action.

In agriculture, a swath refers to the row or pile of cut grain or hay left lying in the field after mowing or harvesting. This strip is later dried, raked, and baled for storage or transport. The width and shape of an agricultural swath depend on the mowing or conditioning equipment and the operator’s settings. The concept is often paired with the process of gathering and tedding to facilitate drying before baling.

In mapping and remote sensing, a swath denotes the strip of ground observed in a single pass of a sensor, such as a satellite or aircraft instrument. Swath width is a key performance parameter, determined by the instrument’s field of view and scanning strategy, and it governs how much area can be covered in each pass. In hydrography, swath terminology also applies to bathymetric and side-scan sonar surveys, where a swath represents the data-covered path on the seabed as the vessel advances.

Beyond technical uses, swath can describe any broad strip produced by movement through an area, such as a cleared corridor, a firebreak, or a widened track left by equipment. The exact meaning is context dependent, but the common theme is a defined band or strip resulting from a specific action.