Sea-Floor Sunday #68: Video explanation of multibeam bathymetry
July 25, 2010
This week’s Sea-Floor Sunday is a nice video explanation (less than 2 minutes in duration) of what multibeam bathymetry data is using the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest spot in the Atlantic Ocean.
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Clastic Detritus 
Neat video! Thanks for sharing! Multibeam data is amazing! I’ve had the privilege to work with 3-meter and 1-meter binned data over a large area. That kind of coverage provides so much insight into the geologic processes at work. Faults, slope failures, sedimentary pathways, erosional features…in deepwater environments multibeam is awesome. What isn’t always recognized though, is the value in the backscatter data. It’s commonly included with the survey, but not always saved and provided in the deliverables. The backscatter data can enhance your understanding of the bathymetry even more. Very cool stuff!!
That’s a great point about the backscatter data, which can be especially revealing in very subtle bathymetric regions (e.g., distal parts of submarine fans).