What is a sounding?
Soundings on charts show the depth of water available if the tide was at 0.0m (at Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) datum). Traditionally, soundings on nautical charts are shown as a larger number with a smaller ‘subscripted’ number. On metric charts, such as the boating safety chart series, the larger value is in whole metres and the subscript number is the tenths of a metre. On older charts, the larger number was in fathoms and the smaller number in feet (six feet=one fathom). Sounding values on charts with a small under-line are known as ‘dry soundings’. This is where the seabed ‘dries’ or rises above the water level when the tide falls (typically called sandbanks).
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