A group of scientists of Harvard University have now taken to the drones once used for shooting Hollywood blockbusters such as the Wolf of Wall Street and Sky fall for studying Amazon fores
The drones have been repurposed to withstand all time weather for the study and are believed to shed light on the dense forest. Till recently, the scientists and researchers mainly relied on aircraft, towers and satellites to understand the Amazon habitat. However, the data collected thus was not comprehensive.
The hexacopters that were used in the films would help the scientists to explore the regions that were once out of reach and to study on how the dense forest responds to deforestation, climate change and even fire.
People usually think that these drones would be used to film or picture the region. But these six winged drones are just not used for this purpose only. The drones have been attached with a one kilo gram chemical in the front. This chemical is like an electronic nose that would drive through the dense regions. These chemicals have the special capacity to sense the Volatile Organic Compounds emitted from plants. The Volatile Organic Compounds can be measured to know how the plants respond to climate change, fire or deforestation.
The drones can fly for about 15 minutes before a recharge. They are released from towers.
