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Interesting. I don't think that would be possible - the technique shown here relies on a mirror to get interferometry between the two light paths. I can't see h
by rtb 12y ago
Interesting. I don't think that would be possible - the technique shown here relies on a mirror to get interferometry between the two light paths. I can't see how interferometry would be available to soaring birds (between its two eyes, perhaps?). Although nature has come up with some very surprising and impressive inventions before, so I might be wrong.
I would guess they're just very good at spotting the conditions which lead to thermals.
EDIT: of course, you can directly see thermals via the shimmering / "mirage" effect. It's normally obscured by the background noise, but maybe soaring birds are attuned to that. That's much more plausible, but a different effect to that shown here.
- bewo001 12y agoGiven that many soaring birds have fantastic eyes to find prey or carrion, they might be able to see it.
- pierrec 12y agoYou're right of course, it can't rely on collimated light like the normal Schlieren system. But the background-oriented Schlieren technique, mentioned elsewhere in this thread, is more reasonable to look at for inspiration, and it provides pretty much the same end result. I suppose it can be thought of as a differential filter: only minute changes are interpreted to create a representation of the flow of air.