A new way to find new caves ***VIDEO***

....and there was me walking around looking in shakeholes plugged with snow looking for holes the draught had made at the weekend - did find one though! 

Fascinating film  :thumbsup:
 
Spanish cavers in Andalucia were doing precisely this about five years ago with good results. Surprised if it isn't standard practice during winter months by now.
 
Cap'n Chris said:
Surprised if it isn't standard practice during winter months by now.
Click to expand...

Me too.

So how do I go about getting my own thermal imaging camera - want to give this a try!
 
Just ordered one though work. Just the job for looking though wiring panels on machines and a lot cheaper than a full blown IR thermal camera.
Did someone say you can use it to find caves, what a stroke of luck!!
 
Thought about doing this to look for some potential caves in an area the cap'n knows well, however I was put off by some of the reading I done on the topic. Might be something I have to rethink now!
 
I'm amazed cavers haven't picked up on this idea more since seeing the video - am I missing something?  It can't be that easy can it??

 
I have a 'full blown' flir thermal imaging camera and I had a quick play last year in snowy conditions.

I was relatively put off as we had poor results

see  http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=14554.msg189610#msg189610

On the evening of our experiment, I had a few ideas of where there might be run in shafts that might be drafting and they showed nothing.  Hence, I dont think you'd see anything that you wouldn't see with your naked eye anyway. i.e. something that is 'open'.

I can see that flying a drone with one, will find you 'open' shafts on a large plateau over a wide area.
 
SamT said:
I have a 'full blown' flir thermal imaging camera and I had a quick play last year in snowy conditions.

I was relatively put off as we had poor results

see  http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=14554.msg189610#msg189610

On the evening of our experiment, I had a few ideas of where there might be run in shafts that might be drafting and they showed nothing.  Hence, I dont think you'd see anything that you wouldn't see with your naked eye anyway. i.e. something that is 'open'.

I can see that flying a drone with one, will find you 'open' shafts on a large plateau over a wide area.
Click to expand...

Read the thread, thanks Sam.  So draughts not easy to detect, open shafts are - so, no not that easy..... :(
 
Well this all highly experimental, and obviously if someone finds a cave (not an open shaft) by detecting a warm draught coming out of a tiny hole that can be dug, well then this would be the whole point of the exercise. That's why in the video we sparked up the joss stick to see which way the draft was going. We thought we would see nothing as the draft was going in, but then the cave entrance showed up 'red hot' with the cold air going IN. There is no reason why in a cold day when the atmospheric pressure is on the rise, and hence would suck out the drafts out of caves (to equalize pressure inside), that the camera should not see the whisps of warm air, even through a small hole. This is pure theory of course. Lets see if someone can put this to practice.
 
Problem with that though is as I've mentioned on previous threads, air doesn't really radiate heat very well and an IR camera can only 'see' radiated heat.  Thus open shafts or crevices where the rock just below the surface are warmer will show up very well.

Lid/shaft shown in the link above I'm sure were drafting out, the snow around the shaft top had melted, however it doesn't show on the camera at all.

I'm not trying to put you off, and good effort for getting it all set up, however, don't get your hopes up about 'seeing' drafts.

 
Thanks for the links, Duncan.

Burrencrawler - do let us know how you get on with future filming of cave entrances etc, cheers, Jane
 
Hey Jane,
          I sure will. We are going to mount the thermal camera onto a bigger and better drone next time, to eliminate balance issues, and will see if we can detect drafts. I'll keep you posted, don't worry. Thanks for the encouragement. Quentin
 
burrencrawler said:
Hey Jane,
          I sure will. We are going to mount the thermal camera onto a bigger and better drone next time, to eliminate balance issues, and will see if we can detect drafts. I'll keep you posted, don't worry. Thanks for the encouragement. Quentin
Click to expand...

Thanks, Quentin - am loving this thread  ;D
 
Camera arrived and in use.
Already found a contactor about to go into meltdown. That saved a possible weekend call out. It's nearly paid for itself already.
Now for that Nidderdale master cave on Sunday.
 
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