Which energy is used to measure the depth of the sea?

Answer 1

Depth measurements in the sea are done with echo sounders, using an acoustic signal which is reflected off the bottom. Sound travels at about 1.5 km/sec in water. Echo sounders can be quite simple devices for use by yachts in shallow waters, to much more complex equipment used in surveys for geographic purposes. The process is known as Bathymetry and there is a Wikipedia article under this title for more information.

Answer 2

This would be the easiest thing one can do. take a measuring tape and measure it.

Just kidding.

As far as I know, the depth of the ocean can be measured by a sonar. This instruments emits some sound waves which are then then analysed and the depth are calculated.

Answer 3

As a ship's Officer may I answer this question from my own knowledge and experience at sea. All ships carry Echo Sounding equipment. It makes use of the science and the Echo Sounder is a very important electronic navigation aid,

It is a kind of sonar. It can be used to find out how far your ship's hull is from the bottom of the sea, knowledge which is absolutely vital to safe navigation particularly in harbour areas, as well as finding fish, and for such purposes as finding enemy submarines. The science is also used in hydrography work involving nautical charts.

All this equipment works on the principle of transmitting sound pulses into water. Very basically your ship's Echo Sounder electronically calculates the depth beneath your ship. It does this by measuring the time interval between the production of the sound your ship's echo sounder sends down at the surface of the sea and the arrival of the echo back in the same Echo Sounder equipment.

It simply calculates it because the velocity of sound in sea water is 1.5 kilometres per second. So if for example the echo returns 0.3 seconds after it was transmitted, that means the pulse must have travelled 450 metres. To be completely accurate in reading his equipment the ship's Officer has to take such factors into consideration as the salinity of water and its temperature. So while on a deep-sea vessel the echo sounder is designed to give very accurate depth indication at sea, because water at sea is salt, if that ship goes up river and water becomes fresh the same echo sounder reading will be slightly wrong. A small craft on a river will have equipment designed to give accurate depth readings in fresh water rather than salt water.

In equipment design one sonar pulse needs to be sent down and its echo received back before the next pulse is sent down. That is why Echo Sounder equipment has different ranges, so different pulse ratios can be used in very deep water compared to shallow water, just as ship's radar has different pulse interval ranges between short and very long distances on the surface, so in both cases the ship's Navigation Officer needs to choose the correct range for task in hand in using the science.

In birtually all Echo Sounders at sea today, the calculated depth received back is displayed on a cathode ray tube for instant notification as well as the same equipment printing a visual trace of the water depth. This can be particularly valuable in dense fog; but more importantly the Cathode Ray display of the depth in the wheelhouse will rapidly make navigation officer and/or Master aware if depth below keel is diminishing and thus may warn of an urgent need to alter course to avoid his ship running aground by mistake such as through getting dangerously too close to the shore.

Thus the science used by the Echo Sounder can prevent the kind of terrible mistake made by the Master of the Costa Concordia who ran his ship aground in January 2012, resulting in 32 on board losing their life and the wrecking of the ship.

As well as an aid to navigation, the same echo sounding science is also of value in fishing vessels because variations in elevation often indicate parts of sea or ocean where large numbers of fish congregate and so can be extremely valuable in finding fish to hunt..

Answer 4

the answer for this question is SONAR

or

echo sounder

Answer 5

echosounding, or using sonar and seeing how the sound waves bounce off, is used to map the bottom of the ocean and see how deep it is. A Fathom

Answer 6

The internationally agreed standard on marine charts is the metre.

Answer 7

A sonar fathometer. This is an electronic instrument.

Answer 8

Fathoms is the unit used for measuring the depth of the ocean; there are 6 feet to a fathom.

Answer 9

many use radar