Special data values

On screen, the following data values have special significance:

Value

Description

-10000.990000

This represents 'no depth' when the line status value is None. This depth value is also used in line export files.

-999 dB

This value represents 0 in the linear domain. That is a signal strength of 0 volts, which has no valid representation in the dB domain, is given the nominal value of -999 dB. Data points which have a value below the specified data threshold will also be considered to have this value.

An important consequence of this, is that certain operators will not necessarily behave as expected for this value. For example, the plus and minus operators will yield results as follows:

-50 dB + -30 dB = -80 dB
-50 dB - -30 dB = -20 dB

but notably:

-50 dB + -999 dB = -999 dB
-50 dB - -999 dB = 999 dB

This is because adding -999 dB is the equivalent of multiplying the underlying linear value by 0, and subtracting -999 dB is the equivalent of dividing the underlying linear value by 0 (which has no solution but Echoview will return the maximum valid dB value of 999 dB).

See also:

Special export values