Professors and students from the College of Charleston are mapping the ocean floor off the coast of South California, by using cutting edge sonar technology, the Associated Press reports.
The research can provide valuable data to all those working offshore, from fishermen to wind energy developers.
Areas of interest, within the mid-continental shelf about 25 miles offshore, were selected in cooperation with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Leslie Sautter, from the college’s Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciencies, said that the maps will be of significance to the offshore wind industry, as they can help to diminish the impact of offshore wind projects on fisheries habitat.
U.S. offshore waters have been mapped so far, but just a small amount of those maps are a result of a research that used state-of-the-art technology.
Although there are maps of the nation’s offshore waters, only a small area, probably less than 3 percent, has been mapped with the latest technology, Scott Harris, an associate professor in the department said. Researchers from the College of Charleston carried out their work with multibeam sonar that utilizes multiple sound signals.
Offshore WIND Staff, April 3, 2014; Image: sub-int (Illustration)