Said of a crew, launch or day when sea state rules out useful work. Multibeam data degrades in swell through heave error, aeration and dropouts long before conditions become dangerous, so a launch crew can be weathered out on a day the ferries still run. Weather days are logged as downtime and priced into survey schedules and day rates.
Weathered out again, 2 metre swell on the bar, so we're processing and fixing the pole mount.
Rough water ruins data before it threatens the boat, so the call is often made by the processor watching heave and dropouts rather than by the coxswain.
Also heard as
- weather day
- weathered in
Related terms
Aeration
Air bubbles under the hull or across the transducer face that block sound and cause lost pings.
Heave
The vertical up-and-down motion of a vessel caused by waves, measured and removed from sonar depths.
Survey launch
A small survey boat fitted with sonar and positioning gear, often lowered from a mother ship for inshore work.
Dropout
Missing pings or beams where the sonar failed to record a valid depth, leaving gaps in the data.