Drone test operator shocked after taking thermal image of public recreation area: '[It] is unbelievable'

A South Australian State Emergency Service drone operator decided to test the equipment's thermal imaging capabilities in January, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported, and the readings obtained were genuinely shocking.

What's happening?

In early January, experts warned of sustained, dangerous, and impending heat in parts of Australia.

On one of those days, the SES used a drone to gauge surface temperatures in Mount Gambier, South Australia.

According to ABC, it was 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) when the SES drone was measuring heat. Operator Brad Flew explained that while hot asphalt and sidewalks were well-known risks, the drone allowed the SES to gauge other surfaces.

"To actually see how broad that temperature was, even on things like astroturf or fake grass through the concrete and bitumen" was staggering, Flew recalled of the unexpectedly scorching temperatures recorded on several surfaces.

Flew captured a reading of 86.75 C (188 F) from Mount Gambier Bowls Club's green, which appeared to be astroturf.

Astroturf is controversial for myriad reasons, primary among them its tendency to absorb significant amounts of ambient heat, posing a risk to athletes and people with artificial lawns.

Ian Von Stanke is an "avid bowls player," per ABC, and he vouched for the discomfort of pitching on a scorching green.

"When you're out there, the heat in the bottom of your shoes is unbelievable. It's the heat that generates up from the carpet up into your face that is the killer," Von Stanke recalled.

Why is this concerning?

A dangerously hot playing green in Mount Gambier was far from the only hazardous condition or adverse outcome amid weeks of unbearable heat in parts of Australia.

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At the beginning of January, major wildfires broke out in Victoria due to sustained high heat, dry vegetation, and drought, issues that persisted into February.

Later that month, temperatures in Western Australia climbed so high that thermometers were confounded, topping out at 50 C (122 F), and abnormally high temperatures were measured in October, too.

Heatwaves are not unheard of in Australia, but a string of record-breaking temperatures is a hallmark of extreme heat, a form of extreme weather. 

As temperatures rise worldwide, atmospheric evaporation increases, intensifying volatile weather patterns.

Extreme weather is marked by its unusual, aseasonal, or exceptionally intense nature. Extreme heat is the deadliest form of it — claiming more lives each year than hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires combined.

What's being done about it?

Paul Cheung, a Western Sydney University postdoctoral research fellow in urban microclimates, told ABC that hard surfaces were known to store heat more than living ones did.

Cheung added that concrete and asphalt don't store water, exacerbating the effect. Abby Mellick Lopes, a professor of social design at the University of Technology Sydney, agreed.

"The best way to combat heat … is through shade trees. You can see [in the SES images] the vast difference between where there is tree canopy and where there isn't," she observed.

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