| 释义 |
ˈecho-sounding, vbl. n.
[f. echo n. + sounding vbl. n.2]
The action or process of sounding or ascertaining the depth of water or of an object below a ship by meauring the time taken for a transmitted sound-signal to return as an echo. Also in extended uses, e.g. of the flight of bats. Also attrib. or as adj. Hence echo-sounder, a device used for this purpose; (as back-formations) echo-sound v. and n.
1923Hydrographic Rev. I. 72 (title) Echo Sounding. Test carried out by the U.S.S. ‘Stewart’ 20th to 29th June 1922. 1927S. H. Long Navigational Wireless xi. 148 Admiralty Type Echo Sounder. A second type of echo depth sounder..developed by the Admiralty Research Department. 1928Marine Observer June 115/2 This vessel is fitted with the Admiralty Echo Sounding machine.., a wonderful aid to navigation, as one is able to get soundings up to 135 fathoms with accuracy. 1933Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 343 A very efficient ‘height over the ground’ indicator is installed in the ‘Graf Zeppelin’. This is the ‘Behm’ echo sounding device. 1935Nature 1 June 898/1 For navigation the echo sounder was employed originally to delineate the 100 fathom line. 1936Discovery Dec. 388/1 The electrical echo-sounder is to be used for the detection of shoals of fish. 1947Times 3 Sept. 5/6 Thanks to echo-sounding, one of the most marvellous inventions of our days, belief in the perfect smoothness of the deep-sea bottom has been much revised, especially in regard to the Atlantic. 1953J. Y. Cousteau Silent World vi. 63 We were passing the same area in the research ship Élie Monnier when the echo-sound tape recorded another massive object on the floor. Ibid. x. 97 Our echo sounder located the wreck of a French submarine. 1958Observer 3 Aug. 5/4 Scientists at Harvard University have been studying the ‘echo-sounding’ behaviour of bats. 1959A. Hardy Fish & Fisheries iii. 51 His having previously echo-sounded herring shoals in the same area. 1968Times 18 Oct. 16/7 By a combination of echo-sounding from the air and rapid sampling it was found possible to determine in only 20 minutes the main features of any lake. |