What to do about CO2 - Mines Magazine - Colorado School of Mines

People watch
Alumnus Hits the Slopes
for Research and Recreation
By Maureen Keller
dogs and probes is a slow, tedious, often
dangerous process.
Modroo’s research proved that GPR can find humans buried
beneath snow, but the technology is still a long way from being
implemented for avalanche search and
rescue operations. GPR units cost about
$30,000 each and are designed for
exploration. What is needed for search
and rescue is a system that could fit on
the skids of a rescue helicopter that
would fly over avalanche sites. Designing
a prototype could cost as much a $1
million, says Modroo. He has presented
his research at two international conferences, but has no takers
so far.
Modroo proved the ability
of GPR to locate bodies
by burying a dead pig and
beaming radar at it.
“If my research continues, we could develop software to interpret
data that could make GPR more user-friendly,” Modroo says. “It’s
a technology I know will get implemented eventually, but it’s
expensive and there’s not much motivation to do it right now. But
I see it evolving.”
People watch
Justin Modroo BSc Geop ’01, MSc Geop ’04 combined his love of
skiing with academics when he earned a master’s degree at Mines
last year, proving once again that athletics and intelligence go well
together. In 2004, Modroo was ranked 6th in the world in big
mountain free (more commonly known as “extreme”) skiing. He
has skied competitively since he was in elementary school and
now that his studies are completed, he’s back on the circuit.
But before graduation last December, Modroo’s focus was on
ground penetrating radar (GPR) and its possible use for finding
avalanche victims. GPR is commonly used to image the Earth’s
subsurface to find electrical wires or to detect water tables.
Modroo’s research proved it can also be used to detect bodies
beneath snow. “Snow and ice make a great medium for using
GPR,” says Modroo, “The contrast between electrical conductivity
in snow and for humans is great.” Modroo proved the ability of
GPR to locate bodies by burying a dead pig and beaming radar at
it. He discovered that a single GPR antenna wired to a laptop
could distinguish the pig from snow, backpacks, logs, even dirt
clogs. The sooner an avalanche victim can be located, of course,
the more likely the victim is to be found alive.
Currently, avalanche victims are searched for using rescue dogs
and 8-foot probes. Some back-country skiers wear personal
beacons that emit a signal that can be pinpointed in case of an
avalanche; however, use of the beacons is not widespread. No
beacons were detected by rescuers in Utah in the massive
avalanches that occurred in January. Searching for victims with
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MINES SPRING 2005
C0LORADO SCHOOL OF MINES