I live near a wet stormy and mountainous area where both amateurs and professionals often need search-and-rescue help.
The s and r people I have approached with this idea say it won't work or are too busy to try it.
The idea is that mountain huts of which there are many, include in their stores sachets [?] of fluorescene which in extremely weak dilutions makes water look yellow-green in ultraviolet light and even in daylight in stronger concentrations.
Carrying a sachet with you and finding you are lost you follow the instructions about putting it in the nearest water-flow, of which there will be plenty, all eventually meeting in the rivers far below.
Question : Is monitoring rivers for signs of fluorescene in the least way feasible as a search and rescue aid?
p.s. I think lifeboat stocks include fluorescene.-- rayfo, Jun 03 2001 In case of emergency http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/wildfiresI vote you carry a fluorescene pouch and if you get lost start a huge fire. When one of AA's heat seeking missiles is dispatched to put the fire out, your pouch will add an eerie glow to the expanding halon fog bloom and officials will surely rush to discover what collateral damage ensued. [reensure, Jun 03 2001] I think you should just "forget" to pay you taxes before you go - the IRS/Inland revenue will certainly find you quickly. Or just order a pizza (free if more than 30 minutes? They'll find you!)
Why not just make people carry flares/radio/gps, or even a radio with gps built in.. theres an idea - I'll put that on... you could call it a 3g mobiles phone... doh!-- CasaLoco, Jun 03 2001 Thanks. I shall now draw the curtain across the fluorescene.-- rayfo, Jun 05 2001 If I ever get lost, I merely ask someone for directions.-- benfrost, Jun 05 2001 I hate to be picky...no, wait, I really don't. <sp> Fluorescein(e).-- angel, Jun 05 2001 I was once on a Banka (handmade boat 30ft long, 4ft wide, a palm tree on each side for an outrigger and a truck engine at the back). We sailed through the night in one of the most current swept, shark and pirate infested waters in the Philippine Islands. The boat was unsuitably loaded, unlit and no manifest was filed at the harbormaster's (as if they had one). I was sure we were going to be fish food.
I was so nervous that next time I sailed to that island, I had with me a survival go-pack including water, an inflatable life jacket, gps, sea/airband transceiver in a splash-bag, a waterproof map with seasonal currents marked on, and a strobe. I considered an ELT, but the transceiver could already broadcast on 121.5MHz.
Now, I realise I'm going to have to go find some Flouresciene....-- FloridaManatee, Feb 21 2003 What might be more practical, is a mixture of fluorescein and (a non-toxic, biodegradable) oil. The oil should be hydrophillic, so it will float and spread out over the water, providing more luminous surface. The purpose of this variation on your idea, is to keep the fluorescein closer to the water's surface where UV light can reach it.
Edited Oct 22, 2016 (improved wording and spelled "fluorescein" correctly)-- Alvin, Oct 23 2016 It did not seem worth unearthing one of his old ideas to ask, but I wonder if rayfo was a previous incarnation of RayfordSteele. I hope so because rayfo was very prolific and then stopped posting ideas abruptly; I like best the explanation that he changed his moniker.-- bungston, Oct 23 2016 random, halfbakery