Kings Creek Mouth

One of ESM’s earliest bathymetry projects involved recreating a survey conducted at Kings Creek Mouth, VA, by the Corps of Engineers, a federal agency with advanced, large-scale equipment. This project marked the first field deployment of our modified SeaFloor system hydrodrone, loaned to us by ODU. We also developed a 90-page manual for operation, trained an ODU professor to use it, and then ESM returned it to ODU.

The red lines in the image represent the Corps’ original survey paths, while the blue lines show our autonomous routes. Our goal was to follow their tracks as closely as possible and evaluate how well our low-cost, locally built system could replicate their results.

By overlaying our bathymetric data onto theirs, we assessed alignment, depth consistency, and overall mapping quality. This comparison provided critical insights into our system’s performance and demonstrated the potential of emerging, accessible technology to complement or even replace traditional survey methods, especially in small-scale or community-led marine projects.

This foundational experiment helped establish ESM’s commitment to affordable, open-access marine science, as we maintained the autonomous system we developed and paved the way for the more advanced shoreline and bathymetric mapping efforts we continue today.