DEC Partnerships Produce Success in Initial Drone Flights
Protecting New York
To safeguard the environment, public health and safety, DEC is using drone and magnetometer technology to locate orphaned oil and gas wells. Many unplugged old wells have been "orphaned" and may affect ground water, surface water, and soils, and release methane. When found, plugging the wells will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve New York's Climate Act goals.
Drone and Magnetometer Technology
Drones are aerial vehicles piloted from the ground. Fixed wing drones are like airplanes, and they must maintain a certain air speed to generate lift. They can often stay in the air for long periods of time. Like helicopters, multi-rotor drones can take off and land straight up-and-down. This allows multi-rotor drones to be used in areas with many obstacles that need to be avoided. They can hover for extended periods and move slow, if needed.
Simple magnetometers have been around for a long time. You can make one yourself using a small bar magnet and some string. These instruments help with navigation, mineral exploration, and archeology. Metals influence Earth's magnetic field thereby creating a magnetic signature that can be sensed by a magnetometer. To help find orphaned wells, magnetometers and other equipment such as GPS (global positioning system) can be fixed to a drone. As the drone is flown, the well's metal casing can produce a strong magnetic signal, and the GPS can provide location coordinates to direct staff to the well.
