How is ocean depth measured? Detailed answer

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How is ocean depth measured? Detailed answer

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How is ocean depth measured?

Scientists who study the sea are called oceanographers. Since the depths of the ocean are dark and cold, scientists don't know much about them. Some parts of the ocean floor were studied only through the windows of research submarines and through the eyepieces of bathyscaphes made specifically for studying the depths of the sea, but still this information is clearly not enough. One of the problems of interest to oceanographers is the depth of the ocean. Measuring it is called "listening to depth".

In the old days, measurement was done using a rope with a load tied to it, which was lowered into the water. Later, very thin wire was used for this, such as the one from which piano strings are made. Today, scientists can get a much more accurate idea of the depth of the ocean floor with a single invention called an echo sounder. It uses echo to study the ocean floor. A device installed on board the ship sends a sound signal. Sound travels through the water at a speed of about one mile per second. It is reflected from the bottom and caught on the way back by a special device.

The deeper the water, the longer it takes for the echo to reach the side of the ship. A modern echo sounder sends ultrasonic waves to the bottom. Then the instruments register the echo in the form of a black line on a sheet of special paper. Usually this paper contains the decoding of these signs in fathoms (a fathom is 1,8 meters). With the help of an echo sounder, you can easily determine the depth of the sea. But the device can do more than just that. He can draw a detailed line of the seabed under the ship by listening to the bottom every few meters along the ship's course.

If a ship passes over a submarine, the echo sounder registers its exact shape. If the bottom is flat, the echo sounder will depict it the same way. The echo sounder will not miss even a small unevenness of the bottom less than a meter high!

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

Why does lightning accompany thunder?

Lightning and thunder were probably the first natural phenomena that frightened and fascinated primitive people. When they watched the zigzags of lightning and heard the thunderclaps, they believed that this was the wrath of the gods, one of the ways to punish primitive man.

In order to understand what thunder and lightning really are, let's remember what we know about electricity. We know that some things are electrically charged, positively or negatively. The positive charge is attracted by the negative.

The magnitude of the charge increases - the force of attraction increases.

There comes a point when the forces holding them apart become too weak. Any resistance that holds them back, such as air, glass, or other insulator, is overcome, or "breaks through". A discharge occurs - and the electric charges of the two bodies become equal.

The same thing happens with lightning. A cloud containing a myriad of water droplets can carry an electric charge opposite to that of another cloud or the Earth. When the electrical voltage between them is able to overcome the air insulation, a lightning discharge occurs. The electric discharge moves along the path of least resistance. This is why lightning is often in a zigzag pattern.

The electrical conductivity of air depends on its temperature, density and humidity. Dry air is a good insulator; moist air conducts electricity. This is why lightning often stops when it rains. Moist air becomes a conductor through which electric charges move silently and imperceptibly.

And what about thunder? In an electrical discharge, air rapidly expands and then contracts. During expansion and contraction, the air flows rapidly. We hear sharp contacts of such air currents like thunder. And distant peals of thunder occur because sound waves are reflected from one cloud to another.

Since the speed of light is 299 km/sec, and the speed of sound in air is about 795 m/sec, we always see a flash of lightning first and then hear thunder.

Test your knowledge! Did you know...

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