Florida Waters Treasure Hunters Research Paper

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Out of all the technology mentioned in the passage, by far the most advanced has to be the LIDAR. Light Detection and Ranging is used to find objects above the ground quickly and efficiantly. It is the most useful technology used to make new discoveries.

In Florida Waters Treasure Hunters, Mel Fisher created his own technique of finding underwater treasures. He calls it the mailbox system. "A mailbox is a large metal tube that is bent 90 degrees, like an elbow. The tube has a diameter several inches larger than the width of the boats propellers. One end of the tube is fixed near the propeller and the other is placed in the water, aimed at the ocean bottom. When the boat engine is swiched on, powerful jets of water blow sand from the floor, …show more content…

This is extremely dangerous. Technology is so far advanced, it is unneccisary for a human being to risk his or her life for data that can be found a simpler and safer way. In paragraph 4, Ralph O'Hair describes the intence winds that beat and endanger the plane "like a stick in a dog's mouth." It must be very unnerving, to be thrown around like that. The reason for brave pilots to do this now is explained in paragraph 10, "As it flies through the eyewall and the hurricane's center, the airplane launches dropsondes, small instruments attached to parachutes. The devices fall to the ocean and transmit bursts of data to the airplane twice every second. The data includes temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, as well as the speed and direction of winds." It is neccisary for scientist and meteorologist to come up with a safer way to collect …show more content…

One of these is infrared satellite imagery. This is explained in paragraph 2-"Infrared satellite imagery can locate objects on the ground less than two feet wide. Infrared light also can penetrate about a foot below the surface and detect differences in the soil." At first, this might seem like a great idea. But it has plenty of cons. In paragraph 4, it is explained that infrared satellite imagery needs manual help in order to reveal any discoveries, and that takes lots of time. It goes on in paragraph 6, stating that infrared cannot be used in jungles, which is exactly where many ancient civilizations hide, buried beneath the tree canopies. It also doesn't scan very deep, so anything over a foot below the surface will remain undescoverd. Another technique is brought up in paragraph 11, called Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). "The GPR sent pulses of microwave energy underground, where it bounced off buried objects. They used state of the art software to analyze the radar echoes and constructed a 3D map," (Paragraph 11). Once again, this technology has serious negatives. Scientists had to drag this bulky lawnmover-like machine in blazing heat across the jungle floor (paragraph 11). This machine is great for a workout, but not it you want to discover lost civilizations

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