To understand the cause and evolution of the massive mudslide in Oso, Wash., University of Washington researchers are using aerial radars to create composite images that can provide information on how the slide started and where it could end up.
Gordon Farquharson, an engineer at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and Chris Chickadel, an oceanographer at the APL, hopped in a Cessna 172 plane last month and mounted a loaned topography-measuring radar from a company called Artemis, in addition to infrared cameras, to the plane.
The pair snapped aerial photos of the mudslide area during two one-hour increments and later used image processing software to produce composite images. The thermal imaging helped the researchers to see saturation and water levels, key information that can hint at how the slide will evolve in the next few weeks and months.
“The system can look for these areas of change before the slide happens and potentially tell you areas of weakness before something like this happens,” Farquharson said in the video below.
The researchers will soon make their data public for anyone to use. The UW is also leading a scientific investigation to determine the cause of the mudslide, which has killed at least 34 people and taken out about 36 homes.
Check out how the imaging technology works in this video:
