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Acoustic Sonar Mapping (2D)

Sweep a survey vessel across a hidden seafloor and watch a multibeam sonar build a real bathymetric map, ping by ping, from round-trip echo timing (d = c·t/2 at 1500 m/s) and a beam cone that widens with depth.

Physics & Mechanics2DModerate60 FPS⇄ 3D version

Sweep a survey vessel across a hidden seafloor and watch a multibeam sonar build a real bathymetric map, ping by ping, from round-trip echo timing and a beam cone that widens with depth.

⚙ Under the hood

Every ping's depth comes from d = c·t/2 with c ≈ 1500 m/s, the accepted speed of sound in seawater — the same relation real echosounders use. The beam cone is solved by iterating the outer rays against the seafloor slope, so a wider half-angle or a deeper bottom visibly widens the footprint. Nothing ahead of the ship is ever drawn: the map is only ever as complete as what the vessel has actually surveyed.

sonarbathymetrymultibeamecho soundingacousticsocean mapping

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install