Tracking the Kilauea eruption

Tracking the Kilauea eruption

6 years ago
Anonymous $CLwNLde341

https://phys.org/news/2018-05-tracking-kilauea-eruption.html

We arrived on the Big Island just four days ago, and immediately joined the team from the University of Hawai'i – Hilo (UHH). They have been using drones to track the lava flow and working with Civil Defense since the eruption's very beginning. Our first experience was a night-time aerial survey of the flow front off Fissure 17, on the easternmost end of the fissure line. The UHH team used an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with thermal infrared ("night vision") cameras, which can easily detect the mostly black lava.

Going into the evacuation zone at night is a truly unique experience. It requires signing in at the Field Operations office, receiving an SO2 detector that allows us to keep an eye on exposure to the toxic gas and get away when levels get too high, putting our gas masks around our necks ready to be used at a moment's notice, wearing high-visibility vests, and crossing the road blocks manned by the police and the National Guard. It all felt a little bit like a Hollywood disaster movie, except this was all very real.