The report was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation but carried out by Professor Philip Leather of London's South Bank University and Professor Moira Munro of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.
But according to Dr Paul Kingston, from the Centre for Marine Diversity and Biotechnology at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, the problems are minimal.
It just became possible, thanks to a laser camera developed by physicists at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, UK. You can pretty much see how it works from the images above -- laser beams are bounced off the target and the duration of their return journey is measured precisely enough to detect millimeter depth changes even at extreme distances.