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Balloon Geology in the McDowell Mountains

Balloon Geology in the McDowell Mountains

Brian Gootee (left) and McDowell Sonoran Conservancy citizen scientist launching the purple people-eater balloon. The balloon was outfitted with a camera capturing images at a select time interval. In post-processing, Brian would stitch the images and build out a digital elevation model for examining the local geology. The helium-filled weather balloon was tethered to an individual on the ground.

In 2015, AZGS moved from balloon photography to drones.

Photographer: Mike Conway

Photo Date: April 2014