Underwater Rock of Gibraltar in the Red Sea – the work of the Survey Ship ECHO has revealed that there is an underwater mountain the size of the Rock of Gibraltar discovered when the ship sailed through the poorly mapped waters in the Red Sea.   The ECHO came across the huge feature (correctly termed a ‘sea mount’) while searching for volcanoes on the seabed.     The sonar suites of the ECHO mapped the huge feature for the first time, and it will now be marked on future charts.     Yemeni fishermen evidently long knew the mount existed and the ECHO found a dhow anchored on its summit during the survey of the area.

The ECHO was sent East of Suez at the beginning of last year (2011) to help improve charts of the region’s waters and gather key hydrographic data to improve navigational safety for merchant shipping in the Gulf and Red Sea and carrying out oceanographic research off the Horn of Africa.      The ECHO also located a World War Two wreck of a Liberty Ship off the Libyan coast in the last part of the current 19 month deployment.       In the 18 months since ECHO left the UK the ship as carried out a wide range of essential survey tasking, and supported the Assault Ship ALBION during amphibious exercises in the Gulf last summer (2011).