Four At Once: Volcano Quartet Erupts On Kamchatka 77
anavictoriasaavedra writes "A unique show is taking place on Kamchatka these days: Four separate but nearby volcanoes are erupting simultaneously on the Russian peninsula. A Moscow film crew has produced an awe-inspiring 360-degree video of the natural fireworks."
The video is well worth watching and panning around in. There are also a bunch of high-res still photo panoramas.
Beowolf cluster (Score:5, Funny)
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Did Mt. St. Rongbad asplode?
Re:Beowolf cluster (Score:5, Informative)
You laugh. This planet is pretty active [si.edu]. Although a quick perusal of recent Alaska activity [alaska.edu] doesn't show much unusual stuff, we've had a RM 7 and 6 quake on Queen Charlotte / Fairweather fault that's been quiet for the past decade or so (a blink in the geological eye). Time to get off my ass and bolt down the diesel tanks some more.
The fun thing about today's technology is that we can actually see the actual magnitude of volcanism on the planet in pretty much real time. Never had that ability before.
Re:Beowolf cluster (Score:4, Funny)
You laugh. This planet is pretty active [si.edu]. Although a quick perusal of recent Alaska activity [alaska.edu] doesn't show much unusual stuff, we've had a RM 7 and 6 quake on Queen Charlotte / Fairweather fault that's been quiet for the past decade or so (a blink in the geological eye). Time to get off my ass and bolt down the diesel tanks some more.
The fun thing about today's technology is that we can actually see the actual magnitude of volcanism on the planet in pretty much real time. Never had that ability before.
I live on the Ring of Fire. I'm aware on a daily basis of the threats to my welfare, though I'm less than an ant on a beachball to the forces of plate tectonics. If it happens, it happens. If I survive, maybe I'll move somewhere safe ... say, New Madrid, Missouri. (c:
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Given that this is Russia, a more appropriate monster would be bagiennik [zeluna.net]
Risk (Score:1)
I remember this geo spot on the risk map so well
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came for the Risk reference, leaving a little disappointed. Could have easily been a joke about armies being wiped out, and an invasion from Alaska coming as soon as reinforcements from Alberta and the Western United States can arrive. Oh, well.
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How the heck is the camera mounted ? (Score:4, Insightful)
In that 360-degree video, how on earth is the camera mounted to the helicopter ?
Dumb place to mount the camera (Score:4, Insightful)
There's some type of long armature and a camera mount. The problem is the helicopter is taking up a large portion of the 360 view. They should have placed a mount under the copter instead, preferably one that could be extended during flight.
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I think he means that he probably knows that it IS mounted. But you should SEE the arm in the video but don't. I had the same question myself.
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I'm wondering if the helicopter is just CG'd in. I certainly wouldn't have done it that way - I'd stick the camera on the bottom of the chopper - who wants to stare are the pilots?
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I'm wondering if the helicopter is just CG'd in. I certainly wouldn't have done it that way - I'd stick the camera on the bottom of the chopper - who wants to stare are the pilots?
It would be easier to CG out the mounting arm. (Google does this with Streetview, but they aren't trying too hard, and it doesn't look anywhere near as clean.).
If you look at the chopper,, such that you are looking backward along the left side, and zoom out (mouse wheel) you will see an artifact of a gray line, Upper Right corner, which changes angle occasionally, but is always there. Swing the video to look forward, and that artifact changes sides. (appears in Upper Left).
At around 2:33 the segment shows
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> who wants to stare are the pilots?
Hmmm... well... In Soviet Russia, the government stares at You !
It was easy.
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Why not point it out the door and rotate the chopper?
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Re:Dumb place to mount the camera (Score:4, Interesting)
Probably for the same reason they don't simply hold the camera and chopper in place and rotate the world. It takes more effort to rotate the chopper, or even the camera. And even if you went to the effort, it would be incredibly difficult to rotate the chopper around the camera while moving in any direction, and harder still (because you are, after all, subject to air movement) to keep the image steady. And finally, even if you did all of the above, there are limits to how fast you can rotate a chopper.
Instead, a common solution is to have a lens that provides a 360 degree view, with various degrees of distortion. (Panomorphic lenses) [wikipedia.org] Note that in many cases it is 360 degrees around a single axis, with only a limited field of view along the other axes. Some variations use mirrors, others appear to be extreme versions of the fish-eye lens. (Example. [0-360.com])
Another solution appears to be having either a reflector or the camera itself rotate, stitching the continuous stream of images into a series of 360 degree images. ( Android phone example [google.com], mirror rotation example [ieee.org])
And yet a third solution is to simply have cameras pointed in every direction at once. (Example [petapixel.com])
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Use the cursor arrows, Luke.
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Why should the pilot be resonsible for the quality of the camera shot when a motorized mount can do the job with the push of a few buttons?
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No shit it's a dumb place. The least they could have done was turn the camera away from the chopper. It's so incredibly annoying and such a waste that when I should have been enjoying the wonderful panorama of four simultaneously erupting volcanoes I instead spent all that time listening to helicopter blades and staring at the helicoptor, trying to figure out how the camera was mounted. Why?
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The camera mount is visible in the first, second and last segments if you look into the window where the photographer is closest to the camera, and its also visible from the shadow in the third segment. You can also see him winding in the camera at the very end.
The camera(s) in use likely have overlapping fields of view that allow for the mount itself to be eliminated from the picture. Couple that with what looks like a smudgy part of the opened window / door through which the camera is sticking out (righ
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Couple that with what looks like a smudgy part of the opened window / door through which the camera is sticking out (right in front of the handle) and you've got your pole mounted camera sticking out with the tripod itself simply masked out.
Yup, and there is a reflection in the window just aft of that smudge. Then, at about 1:30 the sunlight comes from the left rear of the chopper and the poll casts a shadow on the pilots window.
The little box below the pilots side window looks like a transceiver for camera management.
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Dunno, but stuff like this always makes me wish I'd spent more than $9.95 on my video card.
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Since there is no single lens that can capture a 360-degree view, obviously they are using multiple cameras. When you composite the final video, the view of the arm is obviously replaced by the same area, but from a different camera.
Does it bother you also that the ends of some of the rotor blades are not attached?
Flash (Score:3)
I can do panoramas w/o Flash. OK, so I use Javascript.
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Re:Open Door Policy (Score:5, Funny)
Is it a good idea to fly around an active volcanoe with the helicopter door open? Aren't there generally toxic gases about?
Well, it is Russia.
They're probably safer having the window open; those potato-and-vodka farts can be pretty damn toxic themselves.
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potato-and-vodka farts can be pretty damn toxic themselves.
Sorry, carbohydrates and ethanol don't produce highly toxic fumes. Proteins do. Very little in potatoes. None in vodka.
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To paraphrase Emperor Palpatine, I find your lack of humor disturbing.
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All I can figure is the camera is mounted on the other side of the big plexiglass ball the chopper is inside to keep ash and stuff out of the turbine engine.. ;-)
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Eh... we flew around Baghdad with the doors open... Acute airborne lead poisoning is pretty dangerous too... ;)
Re:Open Door Policy (Score:4, Interesting)
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I've done it in Hawaii - it's quite routine on the volcano overflights. I think that the pilot generally has a good idea of where the bad stuff might be. Of course, if he doesn't, you would probably be in deep trouble even with the doors closed.
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Kick-ass technology (Score:5, Interesting)
I would pay money to have this camera rig on every KCAL 9 high speed chase video feed.
In Soviet Russia... (Score:2)
Oh crap.
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Climate effect? (Score:1)
Will the temperature drop from having that many volcanoes erupt simultaneously?
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Will the temperature drop from having that many volcanoes erupt simultaneously?
I asked myself the same thing since historically large eruptions were followed by global cooling. However, we have an interesting new variable: the axis of the earth has changed significantly since the earthquake off of the Japanese coast in 2011. I vaguely remember an article that the earth's access shifted a fraction of a degree. I guess we shall have to see how this plays out.
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Depends on how much ash and Sulfur they put high up in the stratosphere.
Now, if this is the beginning of an eruption akin to the Siberian Traps [wikipedia.org], all bets are off. You may not see the Sun for a few years.
wow, a levitating camera! (Score:2)
Priorities (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Priorities (Score:5, Funny)
Computers are my forte.
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Yeah, me too. I was wondering what was so cool about a close up of a MI-8.
Important advice for anyone in the area (Score:2)
"If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let 'em go, because man, they're gone."
-Jack Handey
Invert the Y axis!!! (Score:2)
Apart from that very cool video.
quartet of volcanos, so: (Score:2)
Which one is the viola?
Its a trap! (Score:2)
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Hot spots are staying put below moving plates. The Eurasian continent has moved about 2500km during 250M years and the Kamchatka is about that distance from the Siberian Traps, so it could be a related eruption.
Now we need to wait for 250M years for the next super continent to have the life wiped out from the inlands.
River of lava (Score:2)
That looked like one long river of lava!
Same old, same old (Score:2)
Okay... (Score:2)
Who's Performing the great ghost dance in Russia?