Marine Surveys

Hibbard Inshore is proud to provide a full suite of Marine Survey services including single beam and multibeam bathymetric surveys, scanning sonar and multibeam imaging surveys, side scan sonar surveys and marine geophysical surveys.

Multibeam bathymetric surveying is the technique whereby we collect high-resolution elevation data, underwater. These sensors can be used on either a boat from the surface or can be attached to a Hibbard Inshore ROV or AUV in order to sample closer to the bottom for increased accuracy in deep water areas. A special bathymetric sonar, or echosounder, transmits multiple sound beams in a swath to collect bottom elevations at a high frequency. Compared to a singlebeam echosounder that might collect as many as 20 individual soundings along a single profile in one second, a multibeam echosounder can collect between 1500 and 7500 discrete soundings along a swath during one second. So, depending on the accuracy required by your project, Hibbard Inshore can provide the proper equipment to meet the data density needs for your elevation model.

In the case of scanning sonar and multibeam imaging surveys, recent advancements in mechanically scanning, high-frequency sonars and multibeam imaging sonars have yielded dramatic imagery that helps to better visualize near-field underwater conditions. These sonars, when utilized in plan view or in elevation view, can provide very high-resolution imagery that mimics underwater photographs but relies on sound rather than visibility.

As an additional service, Hibbard Inshore can provide sidescan sonar surveys that deliver plan view underwater imagery. These are in contrast with bathymetric surveys that produce underwater elevations. A sidescan sonar unit can be towed by a boat or carried by a Hibbard Inshore ROV or AUV through the project area on a series of parallel survey lines providing a nearly 100% image of the underwater environment. Contrasts in the imagery, such as bright returns for strong reflections and dark returns for weak reflections or shadows, provide substantial insight into the bottom conditions and act as an important supplement to bathymetric survey techniques.

Finally, when projects require survey techniques that reach into the subsurface of underwater environments where traditional bathymetric survey or sidescan sonar survey techniques cannot penetrate, Hibbard Inshore can use geophysical techniques such as sub-bottom profiling, marine magnetometer surveys, and marine electromagnetic (EM) surveys to penetrate the subsurface or measure the presence of objects that may be buried beneath bottom sediments.