Multibeam Surveys

Survey 1

The research team of BathMalta composed by Dr Monica Giona Bucci, Mr Gareth Darmanin and supervised by Dr Adam Gauci has completed a multibeam survey in the regions of Marsaxlokk and Delimara, in October 2023.

The survey interested covered an area of 1.2 squared kilometres, at the resolution of acquisition of 0.5 m. The research team was assisted by the local company R3Vox, a Maltese branch of the US R2 Sonic company, leader in manufacturing multibeam systems. The system used during our survey was the Sonic 2024 Multibeam echosounder.

The data collected by this survey can be visualised in the map of Figure 1 in which it is possible to see the area covered by the multibeam and the depths investigated. The data retrieved by the multibeam will be useful for validating the information retrieved from satellite observation.

Both surveys were made possible thanks to the collaboration with the local authorities such as Transport Malta and The Continental Shelf Department.

A second survey is planned for April 2024 in the area of St Paul’s Bay.

Figure 1 Area surveyed during the first campaign in October 2023.

Survey 2

The survey in St Paul’s Bay covered a total area of 2 square kilometres, with an acquisition resolution of 0.25m, Figure 2.

Both surveys were carried out with the multibeam echosounder Sonic 2024 which offer a range of selectable swath coverage options from 10 to 160 degrees. In this study we used an average swath width of 110 degrees, in order to account for the high waves and windy weather conditions encountered during the survey. Both surveys were made possible thanks to the collaboration with the local authorities such as Transport Malta and The Continental Shelf Department.

Figure 2 Area surveyed during the second campaign in June 2024