By Heather Turner

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- A new fiber-optic instrument designed for remote temperature sensing is now in use at Oregon State University.

Researchers say it will revolutionize the way they measure environmental changes.

The equipment installed as part of an OSU experiment where researchers can monitor how the air moves and how evaporation and fog happen.

It works by shining a small burst of light down a fiber-optic filament and listening for echoes.

As the light in the filament changes color, researchers can tell the temperature all along its length.

It's one of only five such instruments in the world and makes things visible that weren't before.

"You can imagine if you had really terrible vision, and you all of a sudden someone gave you a set of glasses and you could see everything.  It's kind of that way.  We couldn't see what these processes were, and this has just put the glasses on so that we can actually see at a very fine resolution all of these processes that have been going on all the time," said John Selker, OSU professor and developer.

The fiber optic device can also be used to study agriculture, rivers, and glaciers, among others.