How is sound used to

locate fish?

Sonars send sound waves or signals into the water that rebound when they strike an object. The fish reflects some of
the signal back to the boat, the remainder of the signal continues to the seafloor then it bounces back to the boat.
(Courtesy of Lowrance Electronics, Inc.)

Some sonar systems are especially designed to locate fish. These systems use the
same basic principle as other sonar systems – they transmit sound pulses, measure the
time it takes for echoes to return, and calculate the distance to the objects. (See Sonar).

Fish finding sonar units send and receive signals many times per second. They
concentrate sound into a beam that is transmitted from a transducer. These units
include visual displays that print the echoes. The bottom appears as a continuous line
drawn across the display. In addition, any objects that are in the water between the
surface and the bottom may also be displayed.

Display of the Deep Sea Diver Fish Finder by Lowrance Electronics. (Courtesy of Lowrance Electronics, Inc.)

Fish finders detect the presence of fish primarily by detecting the air in their swim
bladders. The air conserved in the swim bladder changes the sound path and reflects
energy back. The fish finder detects this reflected energy and converts it into fish
images on the screen.
Fish finders operate at high frequencies of sound, approximately 20-200 kHz (20-
200,000 cycles per second). This helps define targets and can even display two fish as
two separate echoes or arches. (See How is sound used to identify fish?). Lower
frequencies (i.e. 50 kHz) can penetrate deeper waters but may not be able to define
individual targets. Putting more energy into the pulse sent out by the transducer
increases the probability of getting a signal to return in deeper water.

Images are formed on the visual display as arches due to the movement of the boat or
the fish. When sound is transmitted from the transducer it is concentrated into a beam.
As the sound passes into deeper water, the beam spreads out and covers a wider area.
If the transmitted sound were plotted, it would look like a traffic cone with a pointed top
and a broad base.

Sound transmitted from the boat’s transducer spreads out in a conical shape. (Courtesy of Lowrance Electronics,
Inc.)

Fish that swim within this cone may reflect some of the sound back to the transducer.
The reflected sound, or echo, appears on the sonar’s chart display. A school of fish will
appear as many different shapes or formations, depending on how much of the school
is within the transducer’s cone. Individual fish, especially those in deeper water, may
appear as arches on the display. The following illustrations demonstrate how a fish arch
forms as the fish moves through the sonar beam.

Example of how an arch is formed as a fish passes through the sonar beam. Courtesy of Lowrance Electronics, Inc.

A fish arch forms as the fish moves through the sonar beam. A mark appears on the
chart display (on right) when the fish enters the outer edge of the cone. As the fish
swims through the cone, the distance between the transducer and the fish decreases,
and the mark begins to curve up. When the fish is at the center of the beam it is directly
beneath the transducer. The mark begins to flatten out as the fish reaches its closest
point to the transducer. As the fish continues to move through the beam to the opposite
end of the cone, the distance increases. The mark begins to curve downward because
the fish is moving further and further away from the transducer. An arched mark appears
as the chart display graphs this distance change.
How is sound used to
navigate underwater?
Underwater sound can be used to help ships navigate their way through the water.
Sound can also be used to navigate remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), manned
submersibles, and oceanographic equipment.

A basic underwater navigation system uses a hydrophone and an acoustic

tracking beacon. The hydrophone is attached to a boat, below the water and works like
an antenna. The beacon, somewhere below the boat, transmits a signal that is picked
up by the hydrophone. The system calculates the range (distance)
and bearing (horizontal direction) to the beacon. The position of the beacon is
determined relative to the boat. If the exact location of the boat is known, then the exact
location of the beacon can be calculated.

The position of the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) is calculated using a transducer that is attached to the ship and
a beacon attached to the ROV. (Courtesy of Kongsberg-Simrad)

A more precise underwater navigation system uses several beacons. A ship or ROV has
an acoustic transducer that combines a transmitter and a receiver. Beacons that make a
pinging sound are spread out on the ocean floor in known locations. These special
beacons are called transponders. The transducer sends out signals to the underwater
transponders. Each transponder responds with a unique sound of its own. These replies
are picked up by the transducer. Computers then calculate the exact position of the ship
or ROV by determining the distance from the beacons and using simple geometry and
basic math.
Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) navigating using a network of underwater transponders. (Courtesy of Kongsberg-
Simrad)

How position is calculated

Underwater positioning is based on the basic principle:

Distance = Speed x Time, where Speed is the speed of sound in water.

The system measures the amount of time between the initial ping (sent from the
transducer) and the return ping (received from the transponder) and calculates the
distance from that transponder:

The product is divided by two because the measured time is the round-trip time (from
the transducer to the transponder and back to the transducer).

Once you get 3 distances from 3 known points, you can calculate the position using a
method called triangulation. Computers calculate the unique point where all three
distances measured from the transponders intersect.
Factors affecting underwater navigation

Many things affect underwater navigation. The speed of sound changes

with temperature, so it must be measured in different areas and at different times
throughout the day. Differences in temperature in the water result in thermoclines–
regions of the water column that separate warm surface water from cold deep water.
These thermoclines may deflect the sound. In addition, there may be noises from the
ship or other objects that interfere with measuring the underwater signals.
How is sound used to
measure water depth?

Echosounders calculate water depth by measuring the time it takes for the acoustic signal to reach the bottom and
the echo to return to the ship. (Courtesy of Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command)

The depths of the ocean have been charted since the early days of sailing using a
method called sounding. A sounding line (a rope that has a weight attached) is lowered
over the side of the ship. When the weight hits the seafloor, the line goes slack, and is
marked at the water’s surface. The weight is pulled back up and the distance from the
surface mark to the weight is measured. This length equals the depth of the ocean at
that point. This method of seafloor mapping is very time consuming, especially when
charting deep water.

The invention of sonar changed the way that the seafloor is mapped. A
combined transmitterand receiver, called a transducer, sends a sound pulse straight
down into the water. The pulse moves down through the water and bounces off the
ocean bottom. The transducer is able to pick up the reflected sound. Computers
precisely measure the time it takes for the sound pulse to reach the bottom and return.
In shallow water the sound waves will return very fast and in deeper water it will take
more time to receive the echoes. The depth of the ocean is calculated by knowing how
fast sound travels in the water (approximately 1,500 meters per second). This method of
seafloor mapping is called echosounding.

Echosounders can use different frequencies of sound to find out different things about
the ocean. Water depth is typically measured by echosounders that transmit sound at
12 kiloHertz (kHz). Lower frequencies (3.5 kHz) can be used to look at the layers of
sediments below the seafloor (See How is sound used to study the Earth’s history?).
Higher frequencies (200 kHz) can be used to identify fish and plankton that are in the
water column (See Fishing).
How is sound used to find
objects on the ocean
bottom?
Sonar is used to find objects on the bottom of the ocean. Side scan sonar is one
method used to look at the detail of the ocean floor. Side scan sonar instruments are
towed behind ships and often called towfish or tow vehicles (shown below).

A side scan sonar instrument, or towfish. Photo courtesy of Klein Associates, www.kleinsonar.com.

Pulsed signals are transmitted from each side of the tow vehicle and reflected back from
the bottom and objects on the seafloor. The sonar signal is concentrated in narrow
beams on both sides of the tow vehicle (See the diagram below).
 The the bottom figure (black and white) shows the display anoperator would see. It is a plot of the reflectivity of the
seafloor and any objects on the seafloor. Diagram courtesy of USGS Seafloor Mapping Technology group,
woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/sfmapping.

Some of the sound sent out by the side scan sonar reflects off the seafloor and returns
to the tow vehicle. The tow vehicle has sensitive hydrophones (also called receivers)
which receive the returning sound. The signals from the hydrophone are sent to the ship
for processing and an image is made showing the strength of the returned sound over
the area the tow vehicle was sending the sound. The signal is often sent to a graphic
recorder which makes an image. The darker parts or the image represent greater echo
strength.

The image below shows a typical side scan sonar trace. The middle of the image is the
path of the tow vehicle. There is a black line (or two black lines) right in the middle of the
image. This is actually the sound pulse sent out from the instrument which is
immediately heard by the hydrophone on the instrument. The blank white space,
moving out from the black lines, is the time it takes the sound to travel through the
water. The first echo from the seafloor (or sometimes from the sea surface) is the next
mark. Then echos from the seafloor and objects at greater and greater distances from
the tow vehicle.

The patterns on the seafloor in this image are iceberg scour marks in the Beaufort Sea. Photo courtesy of Klein
Associates, www.kleinsonar.com.

Side scan sonar is very sensitive and can measure features on the ocean bottom
smaller than 1 centimeter (less than 1/2 an inch). Typical uses of side scan sonar
include: looking for objects on the seafloor (sunken ships, pipelines, downed aircraft,
lost cargo), detailed mapping of the seafloor, investigation of seafloor properties (grain
size, etc) and looking at special features on the seafloor like underwater volcanos.

When the sound sent by a sonar reaches the seafloor several things can happen to that
sound. Some of the sound may be absorbedby the seafloor. Some of the sound is
almost always reflected . There are several different ways the sound can reflect. The
sound can be directly back or it can be scattered in many different directions (see the
diagram below). Sound that is scattered back toward the tow vehicle is
called backscatter.
How much scattering, backscattering and absorption happens depends on the
properties of the seafloor. Hard materials, like rocks, will scatter more sound while soft
materials, like mud, will absorb more sound. Different amounts of scattering produces
different amounts of sound returning to the tow vehicle and a different image of the
seafloor.

The images below show some examples of how one property of the sea floor (grain
size) affects the side scan sonar image.

Images by David C. Twichell (USGS), from: Twichell, D.C., Cross, V., and Parolski, K.F., 2000, U.S. Geological
Survey Open-File Report 00-167, 26 pp.

The image above shows a side scan sonar image on the left. On the right are two
samples taken from areas in the side scan sonar image. The fine sand is darker in the
image because more energy is reflected back from the uniform grain size. The gravel is
lighter in th image because the gravel scatters more of the sound and less reflects back
to the side scan instrument.

Side scan sonar is often used to find objects like shipwrecks on the seafloor. The image
below is of the Empire Knight, a British cargo vessel, that sank off Boon Island, Me in
1944. The ship is located in the bottom part of the image. The shadow of the ship can
be seen in the upper part of the image.
 The shipwreck of the Empire Knight. Photo courtesy of Klein Associates, www.kleinsonar.com.

Features on the seafloor create shadows in the side scan sonar images because of the
geometry of the sound source and the object. The drawing below illustrates how a
shadow forms.

Illustration of how a shadow forms with side scan sonar. Copyright URI.

The side scan sonar sends out the sound. The sound will reflect off the object back to
the instrument. But the object also “shades” part of the seafloor from the sound. No
sound will reach the seafloor behind the object. This will produce a shadow on the side
scan sonar image. The shadow will be white. The shadow is black in the image of the
ship above because the color has been reversed to highlight the ship.
How is sound used to
communicate underwater?

Scuba divers use hand signals and writing slates to communicate with their buddies. Photo courtesy of Stacy Kim,
NSF Antarctic Biology Class.

Have you ever tried talking to your friends underwater? If so, you have discovered that it
didn’t work very well. Even though sound travels well in water, our vocal cords are not
designed to generate underwater sound. How, then, can people use sound to
communicate underwater?

Scuba divers are trained to use hand signals to communicate with their buddies. They
also use underwater writing boards, which allow for better communication. Both of these
techniques require light, however. But what if the water is murky? Or if it is nighttime?
Or if the divers are too far apart to see one another clearly? Is it somehow possible to
use sound instead? Special underwater communication systems have been developed
to allow divers to talk to each other underwater. A transducer is attached to the diver’s
face mask, which converts his or her voice into an ultrasound signal. A fellow diver has
an ultrasound receiver, which accepts the signal and converts it back to a sound that
the diver can hear, allowing for communication. The same system can be used for
communication between the diver and a surface ship.

Acoustic communication systems allow divers to talk to each other underwater. Image courtesy of Divelink.

Can similar systems be used for communication between submerged submarines or

between a submerged submarine and a surface ship? Radios will not work, because
radio signals cannot propagate any significant distance through water. Acoustic systems
called underwater telephones have been developed for this purpose.

U.S. Navy submarines use a specialized telephone system to communicate underwater.

It works much like an AM radio, except that it transmits and receives
sound waves instead of transmitting and receiving radio waves. Similar to land-based
systems, underwater telephone systems use microphones and audio amplifiers.

US Navy Submarine USS Key West conducting surface operations. (U.S. Navy Imagery used on this website without
endorsement expressed or implied.)

These systems are designed for voice communications. What if one wants to send e-
mail or surf the Internet? More advanced systems designed to transmit and
receive digital data have been developed. Some of these are described in the next
section, How is sound used to transmit data underwater?