The informal name for the back-and-forth line pattern used to build full coverage from overlapping swaths. Each line is run in the opposite direction to the last, with a turn at each end, until the block is filled. It describes the bulk of multibeam and side-scan acquisition and carries a hint of the monotony of long, uneventful lines.
Nothing exciting this shift, just mowing the lawn in the outer block until the tide turns.
Also heard as
- lawnmower pattern
- lawnmowing
Related terms
Mainscheme lines
The primary set of parallel survey lines that delivers the required depth coverage over a survey area.
Line plan
The set of pre-planned survey lines, with spacing and orientation, that a vessel follows to achieve the required coverage.
Swath
The strip of seabed measured or imaged across the track on one line of a multibeam or side-scan survey.
Online
On a planned survey line and logging data; going offline means ending the line and closing the file.