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A More Accurate Hydrographic Survey
A More Accurate Hydrographic Survey
by A. U lonska
INTRODUCTION
T he safe nav igation of a ship depends p rim a rily on the re lia b ility of
the c h a rts used. A c h a rt should, am ong o th e r things, give a m ost ac cu ra te
p ictu re of th e sea bed co n fig u ratio n , so th a t a n y steep o r sm ooth risin g or
sloping of th e sea bed, i.e., the re su ltin g shoals, can be id en tified w ith o u t
difficulty. It is th e ta sk of h y d ro g rap h ic surv ey in g to c o n d u c t th e so undings
req u ired . T h e objective of th is p ap e r is to d iscuss the p roblem s of ac cu ra te
so u n d in g a n d to re p o rt on a new m ethod w hich p e rm its o b tain in g a c cu ra te
values.
T h ere a re d ifferent m ethods of d e te rm in in g ocean d e p th s: d irec t and
in d irec t ones. I include am ong th e d irect m eth o d s all th o se in th e course
of w hich a w eight, a sounding lead, secured to a w ire o r a line is low ered
fro m th e vessel to th e bottom of th e sea. F ro m the respective m a rk s on
these lines or the m eterin g w heels on th e d ru m s of th e line w in ch es the
d ep th can be established. H and leads a n d so u n d in g m ach in es belong to
th is category. T he echo so u n d er belongs to th e categ o ry of in d ire c t m ethods.
W ith th e echo sounder, th e tim e re q u ire d for th e so u n d to trav el from
the ship to th e sea bed and back to the sh ip is re g istered and in d icated as
depth.
N ow adays, th e d irect m ethod is not likely to be used any longer because
it tak es too m u ch tim e and, a fte r all, does not yield a c c u ra te values. L et
me ju s t m en tio n the term of line angle. So, the echo s o u n d e r h a s fo r m any
y ears now v irtu a lly been the only m eth o d used. C om pared w ith o th er
m ethods, its g reat ad v antage is th a t so undings can be ta k e n w hile th e ship
is u n d e r w ay.
A m o dern echo so u n d er w o rk s by m eans of u ltra sound. The sequence
of so u n d in g s is so fa s t th a t co n tin u o u s lines a p p e ar on the echogram th u s
sh o w in g the p ro file of th e sea bed covered by th e ship. B ut even w ith
the m o st m o d ern echo so u n d ers it is n o t possible to reg ister the a c cu ra te
ab so lu te d epth for, from th e tech n ical p o in t of view, an echo so u n d er is
a sh o rt-tim e probe, a sh o rt-tim e ch ro n o m e ter w ith plotter.
T he m a th em atic fu n c tio n accord ing to w hich an echo so u n d er w o rk s
ca n be seen fro m th e follow ing e x p la n a tio n :
T h e p ath of the sty lu s on th e p ap er tap e— the echogram — has to be
c o rre la te d to the p a th of th e sound betw een the ship an d the bottom of the
sea. F o r b etter u n d e rsta n d in g let m e add th a t all echo sounders w o rk by
m ean s of sh o rt so u n d pulses.
w h e re:
A = d istan ce to th e bottom o f th e sea;
v = sound velocity in the w a te r;
t = trav el tim e of th e so u n d (vessel —» sea bed —» vessel).
B oth t are equal, for th e d istan ce to th e sea bed or the d ep th u n d er
th e ship should be a fu n c tio n of th e in d icatio n s of the echo sounder.
By in se rtin g t fro m (2) t = 2 h / v in (1) I = V • t, the fo rm u la for
the echo so u n d er
A - 2V
/ = -------------
v
F ig . 1. — P rin c ip le o f th e echo s o u n d e r.
%y - si / X/
: /
y /'
i\ \\ \\ \i
/\ A
■! •' .! ..
V /
_P jj 2 ¾so aj jj 07 38 39 * 0
s " 'K
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/L ' ' I VI ?
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■mgrfflhrt durch
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ik. :vj
hTZ1 14**10 TcTh ^njr
/•î ?i H <nn<
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-vj sek
4;
Fid. 7. Log e n trie s .
V a r ith
= arithmetical mean
v„ = single values o f the velocities
n = number of measurements
and
2 S„ ZS„
Formula 2 VL
S /„ r,
V„
V„," ‘co rr= co rrec t m ean
S„ = single p a th s of th e so u n d
V„ = single values of velocities
t„ = single travel tim es
Stf = to tal d istan ce (d ep th dow n to w hich soundings are m ade)
tg = to tal tim e.
By m ean s of concrete exam ples given by the figures show n I w a n t to prove
th a t for th e calcu latio n of th e m ean sound velocity arith m etica l averaging
will be en tire ly sufficient.
IS „ S, 2 + 2 + ................. + 2
V = ---------" = -2 - = ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =
•"co rr S . t„ 2 2 . , 2
Srf- * + 7TTT + ........... +
V„ 1503 1503 1492
42
= 1497.33
0.0280497733
52
Vm = -----------------= 1481.57 (m/s)
c°rr 0.03509785
4500
= 1500.83 (m/s)
2.9983298
In th is case, too, th e difference is not essential.
F rom these exam ples it can be seen th a t in som e cases th ere is no
difference, o r only a difference w hich is so sm all th a t it can be neglected
for surveying. F or, as I stated in one of th e p rev io u s p a ra g ra p h s, so u n d
velocity differences of less th a n 5 (m /s) c a n n o t be co m p en sated by a d ju stin g
the echo so u n d ers. N or do ev alu atio n s of o th e r curves yield b e tte r re su lts.
T he m ean so u n d velocity o b tain ed by th e sim ple m eth o d w ill alw ays differ
only so slig h tly from th e m ean so u n d velocity o b tain ed by the co rrect
m eth o d th a t it is beyond th e possibility of co m p en satio n [of the 5 (m /s )]
by a d ju s tm e n t of th e echo sounders.
If th e echo so u n d e r is coupled electro n ically to th e so u n d velocity
m eter, one w ill have to a d ju s t the electronics so th a t th e co m p u ter can
calcu late th e value V„m C O tT , as such an au to m atic calcu latio n does not cause
a n y difficulties.
I w an ted to prove in this p a p e r also th a t by m eans o f the sim ple m ethod
the m ean sound velocities can in practice be obtained w ith sufficient
ex actitu d e, in order to get exact d ep th d a ta on the echogram .
REFERENCE