EQC’s Science and Education Manager, Dr Richard Smith, says the project will bring a big advance in volcano scientific work.
“Dr Schipper and his team are developing technology that will let us sample all the components of a volcano plume. This will let volcanologists get a much better idea of how plume chemistry works, and what the plume is doing to the local atmosphere. Using the drones will also make it much easier to keep a regular eye on volcanic activity so that we have more opportunity to reduce the impact of an eruption.”
Dr Schipper says drones are just starting to be used around the world to get more accurate data from volcanoes that could help forecast eruptions – critical information for New Zealand’s emergency management and industries such as tourism.
“I was part of a project in Chile to develop a drone that can handle the heat and acidity in a volcano’s plume. We have brought the drone back from Chile and are collaborating with TurboAce in the USA to build around four or five drones. They will be very light 2 kg quadcopters that can be easily carried to a site then launched. We will also build special housing for the electronics to protect against the water and acid gases in the plume.”
Welcome to drone day on the Adafruit blog. Every Monday we deliver the latest news, products and more from the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), quadcopter and drone communities. Drones can be used for video & photography (dronies), civil applications, policing, farming, firefighting, military and non-military security work, such as surveillance of pipelines. Previous posts can be found via the #drone tag and our drone / UAV categories.
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