A drone photography company has just captured one of the most spectacular scenes ever filmed by a drone camera: a volcano eruption. Drones have been helping us to document natural phenomenon for more than a decade now, but this is the first time that one of these mini machines has been used to film a volcano eruption. “No one saw it coming,” said FAA spokesperson John Stafford. This makes the footage from a drone camera a truly incredible scene.
The drone camera was one of two pieces of hardware that a drone photography company called SkyWords used to film the Aug. 4 eruption from two miles away. The other piece of equipment included a thermal imaging camera that thermal images can be taken of a volcano’s surface by using the heat emanating from it. The drone photographed the volcanic ash and lava moving toward the air at speeds of about 7 miles an hour. It was the drone camera that picked up the ash streaks as it moved down the volcano’s slope toward the vents.
When the drone photography company got the drone camera airborne, they were able to get a better look at the volcano than any human could. The camera also picked up the green fire from the volcano’s eruption. This substance is known as a caldera, and it serves as a layer of protective ash and lava built up over millions of years. It is a reminder of the great change that occurred when the volcano erupted hundreds of years ago. Now, skiers and snowboarders have been lining the trails leading to the top of the volcano, watching the breathtaking scene as the volcano erupts from below.
The drone photographs have caused a lot of discussion. Some people have compared the video shot by the drone camera to images taken by NASA’s Viking space probe. In fact, there are even websites that show pictures taken from the Viking mission as well as photos from the eruption. Many people are interested in learning more about the volcano and what it means to modern mankind.
While it may be impossible for human eyes to capture all of the detail that drone photography can capture, drone photography offers a way for the general public to better understand a volcano’s eruptive process. If you have the opportunity to view this type of video, you may not even need to go to a volcano to see it. A local television station or two may broadcast this incredible footage live on air.
You may also want to make use of Google Earth to search for images captured by drone photography. There are a variety of places on the internet where you can view images taken by drones. Sometimes these images can be as graphic as you can imagine, but most are not graphic at all. In fact, drone photography offers some of the best visuals available around. If you want to learn more about drone photography and ways to help prevent future volcano eruptions, check out google earth.