Abstract
The aqueous search for objects covered by sediment is a common and challenging problem. Here we outline a sequential methodology for the assessment of targets identified by sub-bottom profiling. This comprises desktop study of available data; background hydrological information gathering (bathymetry, sediment cover, water chemistry); acoustic sub-bottom imaging (water-penetrating radar, sonar); geolocation and probing of sub-bottom anomalies; and deployment of suitable scent dogs. This procedure creates a hierarchy of targets for examination by dive teams and thence recovery.
Highlights
Background to the IssueProbes are commonly used in terrestrial search, both to assess ground conditions [1,2] and often conjunctively to vent gases for search dogs [3,4,5]
When standard water searches are inconclusive, yet background information is indicative of a water deposition site and the target covered by sediment, the only remaining options are the use of ground-penetrating radar or draining of the site, fingertip search/archaeological excavation
Data Availability Statement: Original WPR data is available, on request to the Corresponding Author
Summary
Probes are commonly used in terrestrial search, both to assess ground conditions [1,2] and often conjunctively to vent gases for search dogs [3,4,5]. The search of aqueous environments for human remains [6] may seem a counterintuitive environment in which to use probes This may occur through natural processes of siltation, sedimentation accelerated by climate change, land use alterations [8], or intentionally at landfill sites and in rare cases by the perpetrator. When standard water searches (divers, dogs, sonar) are inconclusive, yet background information (sometimes, ‘intelligence’ or offender profiling ‘data’—author parentheses) is indicative of a water deposition site and the target covered by sediment, the only remaining options are the use of ground-penetrating radar (more correctly, water-penetrating radar [10]) or (as is seen frequently in news reports) draining of the site, fingertip search/archaeological excavation
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