General Electric (GE) is partnering with an explorer and filmmaker Sam Cossman and the Nicaraguan government in installing of about 80 wireless sensors inside one of the country’s active volcanoes.
The volcano named Masaya that is situated outside the capital Managua, has rare lava lake in its crater.
Cossman will move downward about 1,200 feet inside the volcano, about the height of the Empire State Building to test the Wi-Fi. He will then install the sensors over the course for the next two or three weeks. The sensors will gather real-time data about Masaya’s temperature, with its atmospheric pressure, gravity, and different varieties of gasses like carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide.
The data will be transmitted to an open-source database called Predix (which GE owns) through the internet.
From then, anyone from volcanologists and Managua residents alike can access the data to better know and understand how the volcano behaves. There will be a user-friendly website that will simplify the data for non-volcanologists who doesn’t understand anything about volcanoes.
“The goal is essentially to install all these sensors, and create the most effective early warning system in the world that would ultimately serve as a proof of concept for implementing something similar to communities around the world who are exposed to similar risks.” Cossman said, The Verge reports.
Cossman is said to be wearing a special, aluminized suit to withstand the 1,000F temperature of the nearby lava lake.
The challenge is to make sure that all the equipment, including the sensors and internet connection can work under such extreme conditions.
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