Survey vessel

A survey vessel is a ship that is equipped to measure the sole of waters or can be. The depth measurement is today mainly by multibeam echo sounder, surveying the position by GPS.

Such vessels must enable a stable, quiet ride with little vibration, but still be agile; Coastal Surveying they are built with a flat surface ship ( flatboat ) to not run dry at low water. When used on the other hand, flows is the maneuverability of the ship or boat measurement in the foreground. But also modified sea vessels from the private sector are often used.

The main areas of application are

Measurement of flat coasts and mudflats
Inclusion of estuaries, driving grooves and sedimentation
Recording the current sole and driving grooves of navigable inland rivers
Measurement of sedimentation in river power stations
Bathymetry of lakes
Special applications in engineering surveying, such as in bridge.

Ocean-going vessels are suitable for measurement but rather counted for heading research vessels because they usually also have biological and other measuring equipment.

In Germany, survey vessels are used primarily in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and on the major rivers and their tributaries first order. Main owners are surveying and engineering services, power plant operators, the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development and universities.

In Austria and Switzerland, survey vessels are mainly on the Danube ( current Building Authority ), Inn, Enns and the Rhine, and - local variable - on larger alpine lakes and the construction of power plants in operation.