Acoustical oceanography - wikipedia Acoustical oceanography Acoustical oceanography is the use of underwater sound to study the sea, its boundaries and its contents. A 38 kHz hydroacoustic tow fin used to conduct acoustic surveys by NOAA. Alaska, Southeast. Contents 1 History 2 Equipment used 3 Theory 4 Measurements 5 Applications 5.1 Depth sounding 5.2 Marine biology 6 See also 7 References History This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. ( May 2008 ) The earliest efforts at bathymetry, or study of the contours of the ocean 's floor, were made by the ancient Greeks in the Mediterranean. They made a depth sounding by lowering a rope with a stone tied to the end over the side of a ship, until it hit bottom. The process was very time consuming, and not always accurate. Interest in developing echo ranging systems began in earnest following the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. By sending a sound wave ahead of a ship, the theory went, a return echo bouncing off the submerged portion of an iceberg should give early warning of collisions. By directing the same type of beam downwards, the depth to the bottom of the ocean could be calculated. The first practical deep - ocean echo sounder was invented by Harvey C. Hayes, a U.S. Navy physicist. For the first time, it was possible to create a quasi-continuous profile of the ocean floor along the course of a ship. The first such profile was made by Hayes on board the U.S.S. Stewart, a Navy destroyer that sailed from Newport to Gibraltar between June 22 and 29, 1922. During that week, 900 deep - ocean soundings were made. Using a refined echo sounder, the German survey ship Meteor made several passes across the South Atlantic from the equator to Antarctica between 1925 and 1927, taking soundings every 5 to 20 miles. Their work created the first detailed map of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It showed that the Ridge was a rugged mountain range, and not the smooth plateau that some scientists had envisioned. Since that time, both naval and research vessels have operated echo sounders almost continuously while at sea. Important contributions to acoustical oceanography have been made by : Leonid Brekhovskikh Walter Munk Herman Medwin John L Spiesberger CC Leroy David E. Weston D. Van Holliday Charles Greenlaw Equipment used The earliest and most widespread use of sound and sonar technology to study the properties of the sea is the use of an rainbow echo sounder to measure water depth. Sounders were the devices used that mapped the many miles of the Santa Barbara Harbor ocean floor until 1993. Fathometers measure the depth of the waters. It works by electronically sending sounds from ships, therefore also receiving the sound waves that bounces back from the bottom of the ocean. A paper chart moves through the fathometer and is calibrated to record the depth. As technology advances, the development of high resolution sonars in the second half of the 20th century made it possible to not just detect underwater objects but to classify them and even image them. Electronic sensors are now attached to ROVs since nowadays, ships or robot submarines have Remotely Operated Vehicles ( ROVs ). There are cameras attached to these devices giving out accurate images. The oceanographers are able to get a clear and precise quality of pictures. The ' pictures ' can also be sent from sonars by having sound reflected off ocean surroundings. Oftentimes sound waves reflect off animals, giving information which can be documented into deeper animal behaviour studies. Theory This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. ( May 2008 ) See Clay and Medwin. Measurements This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. ( May 2008 ) See Clay and Medwin. Applications Applications of acoustical oceanography include : fish population surveys classification of fish species and other biota rain rate measurement wind speed measurement water depth measurement seabed classification ocean acoustic tomography global thermometry monitoring of ocean - atmospheric gas exchange Depth sounding This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. ( May 2008 ) Main article : Echo sounder Marine biology This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. ( May 2008 ) Main article : Bioacoustics The study of marine life, from microplankton to the blue whale, uses bioacoustics. See also Ocean exploration Cambridge Interferometer References ^ Jump up to : Garrison, Tom. Essentials of Oceanography. 6th ed. Pacific Grove, CA : Brooks Cole, 2012. p. 79. Jump up ^ Kunzig, Robert. Mapping the Deep : The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science. New York : Norton 2000. p. 40 - 41. Jump up ^ Stewart, Robert. Introduction to Physical Oceanography, University Press of Florida, 2009 p. 28. Jump up ^ `` Oceanography ''. Scholastic Teachers. Jump up ^ `` Tools of the Oceanographer ''. marinebio.net. Jump up ^ `` Technology used ''. noc.ac.uk. ^ Jump up to : C.S. Clay & H. Medwin, Fundamentals of Acoustical Oceanography ( Academic, Boston, 1998 ). Jump up ^ E.J. Simmonds & D.N. MacLennan, Fisheries Acoustics, Second Edition ( Blackwell, Oxford, 2005 ). hide Hydroacoustics Sonar Active acoustics Baffles ( submarine ) Bistatic sonar Echo sounding Fessenden oscillator GLORIA sidescan sonar Multibeam echosounder Passive acoustics Scientific echosounder Side - scan sonar Sonar beamforming Sonobuoy Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Synthetic aperture sonar Towed array sonar Upward looking sonar Ocean acoustics Acoustic network Acoustic release Acoustic Doppler current profiler Acoustic seabed classification Acoustical oceanography Hydrophone Long baseline acoustic positioning system Ocean acoustic tomography Short baseline acoustic positioning system Sofar bomb SOFAR channel Sound speed gradient Sound velocity probe Ultra-short baseline Underwater acoustics Underwater acoustic communication Underwater acoustic positioning system Acoustic ecology Acoustic survey in fishing Acoustic tag Animal echolocation Beached whale Deep scattering layer Fishfinder Fisheries acoustics Hearing range of marine mammals Marine mammals and sonar Whale song Related topics Acoustic signature Bioacoustics Biophony Geophysical MASINT Hydrographic survey Noise map Soundscape Physical oceanography Waves Airy wave theory Ballantine scale Benjamin -- Feir instability Boussinesq approximation Breaking wave Clapotis Cnoidal wave Cross sea Dispersion Edge wave Equatorial waves Fetch Gravity wave Green 's law Infragravity wave Internal wave Iribarren number Kelvin wave Kinematic wave Longshore drift Luke 's variational principle Mild - slope equation Radiation stress Rogue wave Rossby wave Rossby - gravity waves Sea state Seiche Significant wave height Soliton Stokes boundary layer Stokes drift Stokes wave Swell Trochoidal wave Tsunami megatsunami Undertow Ursell number Wave action Wave base Wave height Wave power Wave radar Wave setup Wave shoaling Wave turbulence Wave -- current interaction Waves and shallow water one - dimensional Saint - Venant equations shallow water equations Wind wave model Circulation Atmospheric circulation Baroclinity Boundary current Coriolis force Coriolis -- Stokes force Craik -- Leibovich vortex force Downwelling Eddy Ekman layer Ekman spiral Ekman transport El Niño -- Southern Oscillation General circulation model Geochemical Ocean Sections Study Geostrophic current Global Ocean Data Analysis Project Gulf Stream Halothermal circulation Humboldt Current Hydrothermal circulation Langmuir circulation Longshore drift Loop Current Modular Ocean Model Ocean dynamics Ocean gyre Princeton ocean model Rip current Subsurface currents Sverdrup balance Thermohaline circulation shutdown Upwelling Whirlpool World Ocean Circulation Experiment Tides Amphidromic point Earth tide Head of tide Internal tide Lunitidal interval Perigean spring tide Rip tide Rule of twelfths Slack water Tidal bore Tidal force Tidal power Tidal race Tidal range Tidal resonance Tide gauge Tideline Landforms Abyssal fan Abyssal plain Atoll Bathymetric chart Coastal geography Cold seep Continental margin Continental rise Continental shelf Contourite Guyot Hydrography Oceanic basin Oceanic plateau Oceanic trench Passive margin Seabed Seamount Submarine canyon Submarine volcano Plate tectonics Convergent boundary Divergent boundary Fracture zone Hydrothermal vent Marine geology Mid-ocean ridge Mohorovičić discontinuity Vine -- Matthews -- Morley hypothesis Oceanic crust Outer trench swell Ridge push Seafloor spreading Slab pull Slab suction Slab window Subduction Transform fault Volcanic arc Ocean zones Benthic Deep ocean water Deep sea Littoral Mesopelagic Oceanic Pelagic Photic Surf Swash Sea level Deep - ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis Future sea level Global Sea Level Observing System North West Shelf Operational Oceanographic System Sea - level curve Sea level rise World Geodetic System Acoustics Deep scattering layer Hydroacoustics Ocean acoustic tomography Sofar bomb SOFAR channel Underwater acoustics Satellites Jason - 1 Jason - 2 ( Ocean Surface Topography Mission ) Jason - 3 Related Argo Benthic lander Color of water DSV Alvin Marginal sea Marine energy Marine pollution Mooring National Oceanographic Data Center Ocean Ocean exploration Ocean observations Ocean reanalysis Ocean surface topography Ocean thermal energy conversion Oceanography Pelagic sediment Sea surface microlayer Sea surface temperature Seawater Science On a Sphere Thermocline Underwater glider Water column World Ocean Atlas Commons Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Acoustical_oceanography&oldid=847487291 '' Categories : Acoustics Oceanography Underwater work Hidden categories : Articles to be expanded from May 2008 All articles to be expanded Articles using small message boxes Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 25 June 2018, at 18 : 15 ( UTC ). 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Question: can you suggest one application of sound waves in oceanography
Answer: fish population surveys