Thermal search from Explorations Unknown

[xaos]

Just saw the episode where they are in S Africa. They wait for the ground to cool, and send up a thermal camera attached to a drone. It shows the heat signature, with GPS coordinates, and they search the site.
The find a pistol, horseshoes, and other artefacts.

This seems a reasonable search method. Has anyone tried this? Does it actually work?

 

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[Icewing]

Just saw the episode where they are in S Africa. They wait for the ground to cool, and send up a thermal camera attached to a drone. It shows the heat signature, with GPS coordinates, and they search the site.
The find a pistol, horseshoes, and other artefacts.

This seems a reasonable search method. Has anyone tried this? Does it actually work?

It's the cost/benefit that really kills some of these methods.
Like GPR, it's cool and works well but not exactly budget friendly.

 

[Salvor6]

not exactly budget friendly.

Thermal camera: $115.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HT175-1024...h=item1cc41ad647:g:8uoAAOSwxgNcF0ay:rk:1:pf:0

 

[1637]

that was a great show.and i liked the one where they used lidar.he sure gets to use some cool stuff

 

[PetesPockets55]

I have a subcontractor I use to find water leaks with a thermal camera. $30,000 and it's 4(?) years old. And as the size is reduced to fit on a drone the cost probably increases. If I remember correctly it picks up temp differences of 1/10 of a degree (Not sure if it used C or F)
It probably is limited to a certain depth depending on the mass of the object.

Wonder if the drone thermal unit is used for larger items mostly?

 

[ARC]

So... where is the shipwreck ?

 

[xaos]

So... where is the shipwreck ?

Well now, that is the $Billion question!

Given the size of the drone, this was not that special of a camera. The premise is interesting, as this same concept showed up in some of the original IR photographs taken by balloon in the early 1900's. The thermal differences showed up in the fields with the old river beds.

I dont know how successful this would be over water, but I doubt it would be as good as land. Like everything else, it has a place, that is for sure.

I am thinking perhaps voids and tunnels, artefacts, and other differences in temperature such as old river beds and roads.

will look at the episode again, to see if the camera is noted.

Like GPR, it's cool and works well but not exactly budget friendly.

What about a SBP?

I am surprised that some of you are not using your humminbirds on land....same concept!

GPR used market

 

[Au_Dreamers]

They were looking for shipwrecks?

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

They were in Africa on pretty sparse soil. It probably would not work on any region that had moist soil and cover vegetation. And it won't know a rock from metal - just that the area stays warm longer that the surrounding soil.

What you need is a small thermal imaging Wi-Fi camera ($1,000?) and some way to track it real time, like a laptop. Without a GPS feed you'd have a hard time figuring what you had flown over as a target. Then the drone - like a DJI Mavic or Phantom Pro (I think the latter is what they were using) - $1,400.

https://www.dronezon.com/learn-abou...ras-for-drones-and-how-thermal-imaging-works/

Here is the DJI Thermal Drone all as a $2,700 package (I have no idea if this vendor is reputable - but it gives you the idea and info).

https://www.adorama.com/djim2entdua...MI2bHz2N6B4AIVVJ7ACh3MvgWHEAkYAiABEgLYt_D_BwE

 

[stevemc]

I used to work for the local fire department, we used thermal imaging cameras. They do not go past glass or into water. They are super sensitive. They can show foot prints when someone walks on concrete with shoes on. If you just touch a wall for a quick touch. It shows. If a woman has breast implants it shows. They are pretty neat things. We used them to find fire in walls, bad fluorescent ballasts, hot spots in wiring etc.

 

[FISHEYE]

Plastic mine detectors work similar to thermal cameras.Theres a company that makes them in orlando and i talked to the owner one day about how they work.The cameras can see down into the ground to about 5 feet and its a hot and cold thing.They use them when the sun goes down.They are not thermal cameras.The cameras have a special filter on them that has titanium dust imbedded in the glass.A friend got 2 of these detectors by accident at a military surplus auction and had to destroy both of them being they were classified items.He still has the lenses so i may try and get them from him to play around with on one of my special CCD cams.I kept trying to get him to take one to the beach to find some treasure but the feds were keeping tabs on him and wanted them both destroyed as soon as possible with proof of destruction.

 

[ropesfish]

Disclaimer - I was lucky enough to go back to engineering school after I became interested in treasure salvage and therefore could kind of pick out the parts that might most affect my chosen avocation, so I am just sharing my understanding of stuff, not trying to be a lecturer. With that said:
There is a thing called thermal inertia...
From Wikipedia:
Definition of thermal inertia. : the degree of slowness with which the temperature of a body approaches that of its surroundings and which is dependent upon its absorptivity, its specific heat, its thermal conductivity, its dimensions, and other factors.
Why is it important to us? Thermal Inertia is the tendency to resist temperature changes. Because of its heat capacity, seawater temperature doesn't rise or fall much. (Nor does fresh water, very humid air or damp/wet sand or dirt.
so in an arid environment the air cools quickly and the sand/dirt does too. All the heavy materials, rocks and metals for instance cool at a slower rate and will show a thermal image from the surface...I would guess that the availability of aerial helicopter or hexacopter drones has really kick-started this...
Anyway...Water is very dense, very thermally conductive and very mobile so unless the water is very very clear, very very shallow and very very still, there would not be much chance of the heat of (for instance) a ballast pile absorbing much more solar energy during the day than the surrounding sand, coral or rock bottom and then being detectable through the water. It can pick out a drug running submarine on the surface though!
At least that's the way I see it.

 

[xaos]

Ropefish,

Concur. Only chance would be near shore when tide is out. That being said, there is a lot of stuff that has been carried inland and buried. Given that the camera was picking up small items such as horseshoes, a buckle and a pistol...is is certainly something to consider.