Detection of Geothermal Anomalies Using Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Data in Tulu Moye Geothermal Prospect, Main Ethiopia Rift
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Date
2016-06
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Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
Despite there is large geothermal potential along Ethiopian Rift Valley in the country, the risky nature of the business was impeding development of the geothermal power industry till now. To find all possible geothermal target location using ground survey is very difficult. So that, it needs cost effective method for exploration strategies and techniques of detection geothermal area. Thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing is an important and easy technique in the exploration of geothermal resources. In this study, a geothermal survey is conducted in Tulu Moye area of Oromia region, in Ethiopia using TIR data from Landsat-8 Sensor. The data is identified as path 168 and row 054 from United State of Geological Survey (USGS) website. It was obtained on October 17, 2014. Based on radiometric calibration, atmospheric correction with 6S model and land surface emissivity calculation with NDVI threshold method, a simple but efficient split window (SW) algorithm with acceptable precision is applied to retrieve the Land Surface Temperature (LST) of study area. LST result shown that it varied from 292.23 to 315.88 Degree Kelvin (oK). The highest LST were traced in barren lands and wastelands of study area. LST comparison between MODIS and Landsat 8 has a maximum difference of 1.47 oK. The LST anomalous areas with temperature about 3–9 oK higher than background area are discovered. Six geothermal areas are identified and three promising areas are found to the west of Tulu Moye area and warrant further ground exploration with the discussion of geothermal mechanism and the further analysis of regional geologic structure. Auxiliary data and analysis tools were used to exclude the non-geothermal influences. The research reveals that the distribution of geothermal areas is consistent with the fault development in study area. Magmatism contributes abundant thermal source to study area and the faults provide thermal channels for heat transfer from interior earth to land surface and facilitate the present of geothermal anomalies. Finally, TIR remote sensing is a cost-effective technique to detect LST anomalies. Combining TIR remote sensing with geological analysis and the understanding of geothermal mechanism is an accurate and efficient approach to geothermal area detection
Key words: Geothermal Energy; LST Anomalies; Heat Source; Fault; Thermal data.
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Keywords
Geothermal Energy, LST Anomalies, Heat Source, Fault, Thermal data