An MBES (Multibeam Echosounder) swath is the fan-shaped area of the seafloor surveyed in one pass using a multibeam sonar system. The swath increases with depth.


Resolution is the ability to distinguish between different objects/features on the bottom. Here, the resolution is estimated (roughly) as the swath width divided by 16 beams. If two small objects are "touched" by a single beam, in the data, they will be represented as a single object.