Surveying the Thames
LandScope has recently completed a bathymetric survey of eight reaches of the River Thames in Oxfordshire.
Prior to embarking on the project, our in-house survey vessel ‘Polecat’ was installed with an R2 Sonic Multi-Beam Echo Sounder – tilted in order to ensure full exposure to the bank / water interface – and a POS MV positioning solution.
In order to guarantee good coverage, between three and five passes were generally needed. Checks were completed at the start and end of each reach to confirm positioning accuracies. The survey team also acquired data on the EA benchmarks.
The resultant output will consist of a multi-beam swath similar to the image on your right, as well as a 0.5m grid of soundings. This data will be used by the Environment Agency to determine rates of erosion / siltation which, in turn, will inform decisions regarding maintenance of the watercourse.
We will be developing the concept in the near future to incorporate our BlueView multi-beam system. This will equip LandScope with the ability to conduct high resolution bridge surveys in just a fraction of the current time.