Central Ohio Grotto - Survey Section

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Survey How-To

In order to survey, you will need to have the appropriate gear. You will need a sighting compass, way of measuring the inclination, a tape to measure the distances and something to write all of the measurements on.

The following measurements are made

Distance	Use the tape to measure the linear distance between two stations.
Compass Bearing	Use your compass to read the offset from magnetic north to determine the direction the cave is heading. The COG generally does fore and back sites for accuracy and for a sanity check.
Inclination/Declination	Use your clinometer to determine the angle between the 2 stations. This reading will give you the depth of the cave and allow you (with some trigonometry) to determine the true length of the cave. Again, the COG generally does fore and back sites.
Right, Left, Up & Down	Use the tape to measure the size of the passage at the station. Sometimes the distances have to be estimated.