Ships, Boats & the Deep

How Submarines See in the Dark

Name: How Submarines See in the Dark
Duration: 88 s
Description: No windows, no light, miles deep. A sub 'sees' with sound — a ping, an echo, and a little math.

No windows, no light, miles deep. A sub 'sees' with sound — a ping, an echo, and a little math.

Three hundred metres down, it is utterly black — the window shows nothing. Yet the submarine knows a ship sits two kilometres ahead and the seabed lies eighty metres below. No light down here. So how does it SEE?

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SonarEcho TimingSpeed of Sound in WaterActive vs Passive