Water surface searches

Water surface searches are procedures carried out on or over the surface of a body of water with the purpose of finding lost vessels, persons, or floating objects, which may use one or more of a variety of search patterns depending on the target of the search, as the direction and rate of drift vary depending on the characteristics of the target and the water and weather conditions at the time. The effectiveness of a search pattern is also influenced by the characteristics of the search platform. One or more search platforms may be used.^[1]

Factors influencing choice of search pattern and search asset:^[1]^[2]

Drift speed and direction, which is affected by
- Type of object
- Windage and hydrodynamic drag of the target
Visibility of object
- Size and colour of object
- Height above the water of the observers
- Illumination and atmospheric conditions
- Water surface conditions
Confidence of last known position and elapsed time
Geographical factors

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[1]

[2]