Definition

1. Noun:
   • A measuring instrument for determining depth: An echo sounder is a device that calculates the depth of water by emitting an acoustic pulse and measuring the time it takes for the echo to return.
   • A principle of underwater measurement: The term refers to the technology of using sound waves to gauge distance underwater by timing their reflection.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The ship's navigator used the echo sounder to ensure we were in safe waters.
  • Modern fishing boats are equipped with an echo sounder to locate schools of fish.
  • The data from the echo sounder confirmed the depth of the trench.

Advanced Usage

• Technical Context: In oceanography and hydrographic surveying, an "echo sounder" is a fundamental tool for creating bathymetric maps of the seafloor.
  • The research vessel mapped the ocean floor with a multi-beam echo sounder.

Variants and Related Words

• Sonar (n): While often used interchangeably in general contexts, "sonar" (Sound Navigation And Ranging) is a broader term for systems using sound propagation for navigation, communication, or detection, which includes echo sounding technology.
  • Active sonar systems function similarly to an echo sounder.
• Fathometer (n): A proprietary name that has become a generic term for a type of echo sounder used to measure water depth in fathoms.
• Asdic (n): An older term, primarily British, for anti-submarine detection equipment using echo sounding principles.

Synonyms

• Depth finder: A device for finding the depth of water.
• Depth sounder: Another term for an instrument that measures depth.

Related Phrases

• Echo sounding (n): The process or technique of using an echo sounder.
  • Echo sounding revealed an underwater mountain.

Noun

1. a measuring instrument that sends out an acoustic pulse in water and measures distances in terms of the time for the echo of the pulse to return
   • sonar is an acronym for sound navigation ranging
   • asdic is an acronym for antisubmarine detection investigation committee