Some aspects of using IR-cameras in Arctic navigation

• Published in: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
• Main Authors: Vlasov, A, Buev, S
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: IOP Publishing 2020
• Subjects: Arctic; Iceberg*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/539/1/012136; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/539/1/012136/pdf; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/539/1/012136

Abstract Navigation in Arctic waters is associated with an increased risk of collision with icebergs and other ice formations. For people, these are severe weather conditions and low chances of survival in cold water if the vessel is abandoned. So according to some reports, a person can be alive in ice water no more than 5-8 minutes, and wearing a wetsuit does not increase this time by much. In this regard, one of the tasks of search and rescue is to reduce the time for identifying a person on the water. In addition to visual surveillance tools, this task can be solved with the help of thermal imagers. First of all thermal imaging complexes are known to modern man as devices installed in airport terminals, which allow identifying individuals with elevated body temperature and therefore potentially infected. However, thermal imagers are increasingly being used for other professional and domestic purposes. This is largely due to a decrease in the cost of such devices, a reduction in size and an improvement in their usability. The idea of detecting people in the dark with a thermal imager is not new, but the method proposed in this article is original. Life jackets and wetsuits must be equipped with devices that emit infrared waves that can be captured by thermal imagers when the body temperature is not very different from the surface temperature of the water. Also, infrared cameras can be used to find pollution at sea.