At CIMA (Atlantic Center for Environmental Research, S.L.), we want to show you what we do—both in our offices and beyond.

On this page, you’ll find a series of short videos called "Things We Do at CIMA", which will help explain what we do and how we do it. All to bring you closer to the world of Marine Biology and Oceanography.

«Things We Do at CIMA» #10: Side-Scan Sonar

Currently, we have a new tool that helps us achieve much more detailed and precise results:

This is a side-scan sonar.

This device uses the propagation of sound underwater to obtain digital images of the seabed surface.

The acoustic signals emitted by the sonar bounce off the seabed and objects deposited on it, creating an image of them.

If we use high frequencies, the images obtained are of higher resolution but lose range, and vice versa. Therefore, it is advisable to use equipment that simultaneously emits high- and low-frequency pulses.

Its most common applications include detailed mapping of habitats and communities across large sectors of the seabed, locating pipelines, viaducts, or cables, searching for submerged objects or archaeological sites, and pinpointing shipwrecks.