Definition
Radiates a conical beam, often between about 3 and 30 degrees wide depending on transducer and frequency, and returns the shoalest depth within that cone. The seabed footprint therefore widens with depth, roughly two times depth times the tangent of half the beam angle. Coverage is a single line along track, so survey by single beam leaves unsurveyed gaps between lines, which is why older chart soundings can miss isolated pinnacles.
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