The term bathymetry derives from two Greek words, the first is βαθυς which means deep and μετρον which means measurement, so bathymetry can be defined as that science in charge of the study of the seabed, it is based on the determination of the depths of the sea bottom. , for which it is responsible for measuring the time it takes for a sound wave emitted by a ship to reach the bottom of the sea and return to its origin. In general, bathymetric maps provide information on the seabed, as well as data for navigation on its surface.
In its beginnings, bathymetry was only a science that was in charge of studying the seabed, for which a somewhat orthodox methodology was used, which used a set of heavy cables, these cables were thrown into the sea from a , this technique on time was being relegated by presenting an important limitation and that only the depth of a single point of the ocean could be measured, which made it inefficient and imprecise, since elements such as movement, sea and sea. the ship itself can modify the data.
At present, bathymetry bases its investigations on data originated by means of a sonar, which must be outside a boat, said sonar is responsible for sending sounds to the seabed, and bathymetry is responsible for measuring the time in it takes for the sound to reach the bottom and return to the ship, giving exact results with respect to the underwater bottom, in the early days of using sonars, calculations had to be made using the data from each of the sonars placed on the ships, so, in order to create an underwater map, this has evolved to the point that today there is already the so-called wide-scan sonar, which sends out a large number of sound waves continuously, precisely and contiguous with each other, which that allows knowing exactly what is in the background at 90 and up to 180 degrees.
