Processing of the multibeam sonar data by using GIS

The Earth comprises the continental and oceanic crusts. We could have efficient knowledge about the structure of the Earth, in case of getting information about the structure of the sea floor as much as continents. It is essential to understand sea floor topography keeping the most important fault lines such as Marmara Sea to make the effective interpretation can be made about the morphology of the region.Several survey methods are used to measure the sea depth. Nowadays, for these measurements the acoustic survey methods are mostly preferred. Multibeam sonar system has been come into use at the beginning of the 1980?s; following the improvement of the system, and today comparing to the others this method is widely used.The aims of this study are the constituting the sea floor Digital Depth Model (DDM) for the region between Tuzla and Büyükçekmece and then interpreting the produced model. The DDM was produced by preprocessing the data acquired using multibeam sonar system by Turkish Navy ? Department of Navigation, Hydrography and Oceanography (TN-DNHO). Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the region is achieved by using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Consequently, DDMs and DEMs were produced and integrated by using Geographic Information System (GIS) and the model has been interpreted by academicians of related disciplines.