12/7/13 Report - TC Magnetometer Survey, LiDAR, Marine Growth, and Latest Cold Front

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Mangetometer Being Towed by Helicopter
Photo submitted by Hen Hayes,
Predisent, AquaSurvey Inc.

As you know if you've been reading this blog very long, it covers a variety of topics.  One day it might be about detectors, another day about pot shards or fossils, modern jewelry, relics,  bottles, or pieces of eight and Spanish galleons.  You just never know.  And that is something I like about metal detecting.  You never know.  You never know what you might find or learn on any given day.   There is always something new.  And it touches so many different disciplines and fields of study.



Well today, it looks like I'm going a little high tech. I received an email from the President of a company named AquaSurvey Inc.  The President, Ken Hayes, told what they have been doing along the Treasure Coast.

Here is what Ken said.

For the past three weeks we have been towing a new high-tech glider along the Treasure Coast to pinpoint most all shipwrecks.  The resulting maps will give us a bird’s eye view of several hundred years wrecking along the coast.  We don’t know what the charts will reveal, that’s why we did it.  However, we suspect that it will be a great help to private salvage small business entrepreneurs and the larger publicly traded salvage companies.  We were amazed that we were able to collect extremely high-quality data from an airborne potassium-vapor magnetometer glider being towed at 60 MPH.  Data gathered from a major survey like this one (perhaps the largest ever performed) will take weeks to process.



Back in my 12/22/13 post I reported on rumors of a strange helicopter that some people noticed flying up and down the coast.  I suspect that this might have been it.

Ken didn't mention any reality TV shows being involved.

Thanks for the information Ken.


Other technologies have been very productive for revealing land sites too.  Here is a National Geographic article on how LiDAR revealed features of lost 18th Century New England sites.

LiDAR Images
Source: National Geographic Magazine
Link immediately below.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140103-new-england-archaeology-lidar-science/

Good article.


When you find an item, see what the surface tells you.   It might give you some important clues to where it has been and where it came from.   Signs of marine live growth can tell you that the item was once in the water.  The extent of the growth can give you an item of how long.  So can the extent of corrosion.

Here is an article about how vases from sunken ships create a good base for many types of marine life.

http://www.livescience.com/42333-sunken-vases-biology-experiments.html


On the Treasure Coast today the wind is from the North.  The wind increased later this morning, creating white caps on the river pretty much like it did the last time a cold from passed through.  We got some erosion then.  I expect about the same thing this time.  Some small erosion, but not enough to improve detecting conditions much.

Unfortunately the direction of the waves will come more from the East tomorrow.  Again, that is pretty much what happened after the last cold front.

On Thursday a higher surf is predicted, but the wind will be form the East then.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net