SIO Sea Beam Users Primer.
Abstract
This document is intended to provide general information for the chief scientist planning to use the Sea Beam system installed on the R/V Thomas Washington operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The Sea Beam system is briefly described and the functions of the support personnel outlined, as well as procedures and data products produced on board and by postprocessing on shore. Sea Beam, manufactured by the General Instruments Corporation, is a multibeam echosounding system with 16 beams of 2 and 2/3 degrees each, forming an overall cross track angle of 42 degrees for bottom coverage of 80 percent of the ocean depth. Depth beneath the ship and a CRT cross track profile are displayed in real time for each ping cycle (the repetition rate is determined by ocean depth; only one ping in the water column at one time). A contour swath along ship's track is produced in near real time and the 16 pairs of depth and cross track distances for each ping cycle are transmitted to the shipboard computer. The values are displayed in near real time as contours of a flat bed DR plotter in Mercator projection and saved for later merging with smoothed navigation for post-processed plots.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 10, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADA129954
Entities
People
- S.M. Smith
Organizations
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography