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'Hyperspectral Imaging' Locates Unmarked Graves From the Air

by Terrence O'Brien on April 19, 2010 at 11:08 AM

Hyperspectral imaging might sound like a fanciful process dreamed up by the creator of a crappy sci-fi film, but it is, in fact, a very real and surprisingly simple technology that analyzes light from across the spectrum. Using ultraviolet and infrared rays, scientists have found that specialized cameras can actually help locate unmarked graves, and could potentially aid missing persons investigations and reveal the locations of mass graves.

The technology's ability to locate graves was first tested in a very unlikely place -- a safari park in Quebec. Park officials wanted to locate and dig up the remains of an elephant that had died, so scientists from McGill University offered their assistance. After borrowing a plane from the Canadian National Research Council and equipping it with a pair of cameras, the team managed to locate 25 animal graves, including that of the sought after elephant.

The trick to locating potential grave sites is the reflection of light. For a grave's first five years, plants are slow to grow on top of it, and thus reflect significantly less light in the visible and infrared end of the spectrum. At the end of those five years, it's as if a switch has been thrown, and the plants growing on top of a grave suddenly start reflecting almost twice as much green light.

Local police and human rights investigators are eager to get their hands on the tech, although, may we add, we would prefer them to not fly over our backyards. The lifetime's worth of pets buried back there might make us look like a bunch of serial killers. [From: ABC News]

Tags: graves, hyperspectral imaging, HyperspectralImaging, light, McGill University, McgillUniversity, research, science, spooky, top

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