Wrecks on the Seabed / Multibeam Sonar
Wessex Archaeology, 2007. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000316. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Wessex Archaeology unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 473
- ALSF Project Number: 3324
- ALSF Project Number: 3594
- ALSF Project Number: 3877
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000316
- How to cite using this DOI
Overview
The digital archive
- Wessex Archaeology, 2003: Wrecks on the Seabed: Assessment, Evaluation and Recording. Round 1, Year One Report, Unpublished Report 51536.02
- Wessex Archaeology, 2004: Wrecks on the Seabed: Assessment, Evaluation and Recording. Round 1, Year Two Report, Unpublished Report 51536.04
- Wessex Archaeology, 2004: Wrecks on the Seabed: Assessment, Evaluation and Recording. Multibeam Sonar on Wrecks. Variations to include: Geophysicsl Survey of Designated Historic Wrecks: HMS A1, Hazardous, Invincible and Mary Rose, Unpublished Report 51536.05
- Wessex Archaeology, 2005: Wrecks on the Seabed R2: Assessment, Evaluation and Recording. Year One Report, Unpublished Report 57453.04
- Wessex Archaeology, 2006: Wrecks on the Seabed R2: Assessment, Evaluation and Recording. Geophysical Report, Unpublished Report 57452.01
- Wessex Archaeology, 2006: Wrecks on the Seabed R2: Assessment, Evaluation and Recording. Year Two Report, Unpublished Report 57454.01
A number of different geophysical survey methods were employed on the wreck sites chosen for survey.
It was intended to examine the relevance of these survey methods to archaeological evaluation and to optimise system settings and survey parameters.
Multibeam sonar was used to gather bathymetric data from the wreck sites for the creation of 3D terrain models and georeferenced 2D images. Multibeam sonar ensonifies the seabed in the form of a swath beneath and to either side of the survey vessel deriving continuous and well positioned 'spot heights' for many thousands of points on the seabed as the vessel moves forward. Crudely put multibeam sonar is essentially the next step from using single beam sonars (i.e. ordinary echosounders) which gather more widely spaced single point depths in a line beneath the survey vessel as it moves along. Unlike sidescan sonar, multibeam data provides full bathymetric (depth sounding) data for every patch of seabed that is ensonified, allowing three dimensional digital terrain models to be created very easily. As with sidescan sonar depressions and features projecting from the seabed can be displayed.
Magnetometer surveys were conducted to establish the magnetic signature of the sites.
Sub bottom profiler surveys served to provide information on the general geological stratigraphy on the sites and to indicate the presence of buried material.
The project website is available from the following URL: http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/marine/alsf/wrecks_seabed/
