Specializing in environmental mapping, AFFILIATED RESEARCHERS provides accurate, GPS enabled surveys of water depth and sub-bottom contours in riverine environments.

AFFILIATED RESEARCHERS' trained staff utilizes HYPACK's hydrographic software and an onboard computer to interface the survey-grade RTK-GPS with a survey-grade single-beam or multi-beam echo sounder.

Accurate water depth measurements are collected and correlated to respective centimeter accurate, real-time GPS positions. These depth-position data sets are continuously recorded while navigating the survey vessel along an established GPS gridline course.

HYPACK and AutoCAD Civil 3-D softwares are used to develop the data sets into accurate water depth and sub-bottom contours. Raster Design software is used to enable the hydrographic contours to be accurately overlaid onto project aerial photography or other GIS databases.

Accurate GPS positions are collected along the wetted edge of the river to determine its exact boundaries at given flows. Fluctuating water elevations at centimeter accuracies are obtained concurrently during this process, and developed as an important additional parameter.

These services are an accurate and reliable method of measuring baseline conditions, monitoring seasonal sediment transport, quantifying fish habitat at various flows, or even as empirical calibration of an ongoing hydrology model.

In certain projects such as dredging applications where sediment thickness needs to be determined, a dual-frequency echo sounder is used to collect sub-bottom (sediment) depths at the same time water depths are collected.

Scaled, full format survey drawings that include cross-sectional and 3-D views are provided, along with staged-water and sediment volume computations.

Hydrographic surveys and sub-bottom profiling are valuable tools for resource management of riverine environments.