The editing stage of processing, where soundings that do not represent the seabed are flagged as rejected: fliers, fish, wake returns, multiples and outer-beam noise. Automated filters and surface-based tools do most of the work, and a processor then inspects suspect areas in 3D or cross-section. Over-cleaning is a real hazard, because a genuine small feature looks like noise to an impatient editor.
Cleaning's done on day 212 except the wreck site, leave those soundings for the senior to look at.
Never reject a shoal sounding over a possible feature without checking backscatter, side-scan or the next line: the hydrographer's habit is to prove a shoal false, not assume it.
Also heard as
- data cleaning
- editing
- data editing
Related terms
Flier
A spurious sounding that sticks out shoaler or deeper than the real seabed, usually from noise or a false detection.
CUBE
Combined Uncertainty and Bathymetry Estimator: an algorithm that builds a depth surface by weighting soundings by uncertainty.
Gridding
Turning millions of scattered soundings into a regular grid of depth values at a chosen cell size.
Holiday
A gap in survey coverage where no data was collected, which must be filled before the survey is complete.