Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Theseus
I am not an expert with the use of laser thermometers, or IR cameras. However, just yesterday at a T-day dinner I had the opportunity to converse with a user of such technology. He uses these things in his daily work and has gone to school to learn how to use them. 
Upon questioning him, about the uses and applications for laser thermometers, etc.; he confirmed everything that airman21 and Carl have described about the fallacy of using such instrumentation for locating buried metals or treasure.
If Tim Williams used it alongside his logger gadget, it only goes to show that those among us who want to mis-apply certain technology, are adding nothing to the location solution, but are merely confirming their own ignorance.  |
It seems to me that using a geologger with an infrared thermometer is an idea that could make some sense. While using a thermometer by hand only, you would be sampling to see where the warm and cold spots are on the ground surface. The problem is after checking a few hundred spots on the surface, you would lose tract of what temperatures you found everywhere. But if you did a grid survey with a geologger, you would end up with a nice map showing all the temperatures over an area.
The problem with this approach is we have a much better tool .. the thermal imaging camera that will make an image better than a crude temperature map, while showing finer resolution temperature gradients, and will even show objects on the ground to help identify where the warm/cold spots are. So there is no need for wasting time making geo-log surveys when you can quickly take a snapshot in many directions from one location. And the fatal problem is the better thermal image does not show you where buried treasure is.
Using a geo-logger with a thermal imaging camera is kind of like the idea of using an ordinary digital camera with a geologger. Why make a goelog map of bright and dark spots on the surface in several colors when you can simply snap a picture and get the job done without the trouble of a survey? The photo you take will be much more useful for showing what you found and give a lot more detail. But unless the treasure is at the surface of the ground where it can be seen, I doubt you will find it with a digital camera. The thermal imaging camera doesn't do much more. It only improves the photo by showing temperature gradients on the things you see on the surface, while giving a poorer resolution photo.
I imagine that a very few treasures could be found with a thermal imaging camera. For example, if a corroded coin was lying on the surface of the ground, and the temperature of the air was changing rapidly as the sun began shining after a dark cold period, you may see the coin as a spot that showed a different temperature than the surrounding soil for awhile. This could help for finding tarnished bronze coins that are hard to see lying on the ground. I think I will pass on that idea. Any $200 metal detector would also find the same coin without fussing with a thermal imaging camera to find it.
I would still like to see all the alleged buried treasures that have been recovered using a digital thermometer.
Best wishes,
J_P