Which system provides a two-dimensional image of the seafloor by recording intensity of returned echoes along a line?

Which system provides a two-dimensional image of the seafloor by recording intensity of returned echoes along a line?

• A. Echo Sounder
• B. Side-Scan Sonar
• C. Sub-bottom Profiler
• D. Multibeam

Answer: (B)

Side-scan sonar is designed to create a two-dimensional image of the seafloor by recording how strong the echoes are as they return from the seabed along the path beside the survey platform. The transducers emit sound waves to the sides, not straight down, and as the vessel moves, the system builds a strip (a swath) of seafloor imagery showing texture, features, and objects based on backscatter intensity. Brighter areas indicate stronger reflections and stand out as a detailed map of the surface. This differs from an echo sounder, which measures depth directly below the boat to produce a vertical profile; a sub-bottom profiler, which looks beneath the seabed to reveal sediment layers; and a multibeam system, which covers a wide area to map bathymetry across a swath rather than just along a line with texture imagery.

Side-scan sonar is designed to create a two-dimensional image of the seafloor by recording how strong the echoes are as they return from the seabed along the path beside the survey platform. The transducers emit sound waves to the sides, not straight down, and as the vessel moves, the system builds a strip (a swath) of seafloor imagery showing texture, features, and objects based on backscatter intensity. Brighter areas indicate stronger reflections and stand out as a detailed map of the surface.

This differs from an echo sounder, which measures depth directly below the boat to produce a vertical profile; a sub-bottom profiler, which looks beneath the seabed to reveal sediment layers; and a multibeam system, which covers a wide area to map bathymetry across a swath rather than just along a line with texture imagery.