Echosounders work by sending out a beam of sound in short bursts or pulses. Each pulse travels down through the water and is reflected back to the surface from the sea bed or from any object in the path of the beam. When the echo reaches the surface it is picked up by the echosounder which registers the depth of the water and any objects between the vessel and the ocean floor.
Echosounders work by sending out a beam of sound in short bursts or pulses. Each pulse travels down through the water and is reflected back to the surface from the sea bed or from any object in the path of the beam. When the echo reaches the surface it is picked up by the echosounder which registers the depth of the water and any objects between the vessel and the ocean floor.
Echosounders operate on sound waves. Sound is a process of vibration and is produced by any vibrating object such as the diaphragm of a loud speaker, a bell or the strings of a musical instrument. If a bell is struck it sides vibrate, moving rapidly in and out and a ringing sound is heard.
The tone of the ringing depends on how fast the sides of the bell vibrate. A small bell produces more vibrations per second than a larger one and the sound from it is therefore higher in pitch. The rate of vibration of a sound source is known as its frequency and is measured in cycles per second. The faster the frequency, the higher the sound.
