What is a hydrographic survey?
An example of a processed swath bathymetry image of sea floor topography.
As defined by NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, hydrography is “the science which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of bodies of water and their littoral land areas. Special emphasis is usually placed on the elements that affect safe navigation and the publication of such information in a suitable form for use in navigation.”
A hydrographic survey, therefore, can provide such descriptive information as depth of water (also known as bathymetry), the nature of the seafloor material, and the presence of objects or features on the seafloor.
Such information is normally utilized for accurate nautical charting, but other uses abound. Hydrographic data is necessary for dredging operations, for cable routing, for fisheries habitat research, for marine structural and foundational analysis, for archaeological site surveys, and for a host of other applications.
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