PAW PAW, Mich. (WOOD) — In a few weeks, people in West Michigan may see a helicopter towing a giant hexagon in the sky. It’s part of an effort to survey groundwater.
The surveys will begin the second week of April and last for three or four months across Ottawa, Kent, Ionia, Allegan, Barry, Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties, as well as a few counties in mid Michigan. Van Buren County shared information about the project Thursday.
Giant flying antenna gathers underground data in Kalamazoo
Helicopters will fly about 200 feet above the ground and a massive 60-foot-wide sensor hoop will be attached about 100 feet below. They will move in a repeated, gridded pattern to collect accurate data, the county said. The contraption could be seen last year as well.
The airborne electromagnetic surveys are the result of a collaboration between the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the United States Geological Survey upper Midwest Water Science Center. The hoop measures how the ground conducts electricity, acting like “an MRI for the earth,” according to the county…