Echo sounding facts for kids

Diagram showing the basic principle of echo sounding

Echo sounding is a way out measure the depth of the water. This is done by sending out sound waves, and measuring how long it takes for the echo of the sound to come back. The speed of sound in the water is known, so the depth can be calculated. It is a kind of sonar. Note that the word sounding is used for all kinds of technologies, even though some do not use sound. Before echo sounding was used (in the early 20th century), sounding lines were lowered into the water to measure the depth.

Images for kids

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  Illustration of echo sounding using a multibeam echosounder.

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  The MTVZA sounder received from the Meteor M2-2 satellite by an amateur station

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  An example of a precision dual frequency echosounder, the Teledyne Odom MkIII

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  A screen grab of the difference between single and dual frequency echograms

See also

In Spanish: Sonda náutica para niños