Temporal and Seasonal Variations of the Hot Spring Basin Hydrothermal System, Yellowstone National Park, USA

Abstract

Monitoring Yellowstone National Park's hydrothermal systems and establishing hydrothermal baselines are the main goals of an ongoing collaborative effort between Yellowstone National Park's Geology program and Utah State University's Remote Sensing Services Laboratory. During the first years of this research effort, improvements were made in image acquisition, processing and calibration. In 2007, a broad-band, forward looking infrared (FLIR) camera (8-12 microns) provided reliable airborne images for a hydrothermal baseline of the Hot Spring Basin hydrothermal system. From 2008 to 2011, night-time, airborne thermal infrared image acquisitions during September yielded temperature maps that established the temporal variability of the hydrothermal system. A March 2012 airborne image acquisition provided an initial assessment of seasonal variability. The consistent, high-spatial resolution imagery (~1 m) demonstrates that the technique is robust and repeatable for generating corrected (atmosphere and emissivity) and calibrated temperature maps of the Hot Spring Basin hydrothermal system. Atmospheric conditions before and at flight-time determine the usefulness of the thermal infrared imagery for geohydrologic applications, such as hydrothermal monitoring. Although these ground-surface temperature maps are easily understood, quantification of OPEN ACCESSRemote Sens. 2013, 5 6588 radiative heat from the Hot Spring Basin hydrothermal system is an estimate of the system's total energy output. Area is a key parameter for calculating the hydrothermal system's heat output. Preliminary heat calculations suggest a radiative heat output of ~56 MW to 62 MW for the central Hot Spring Basin hydrothermal system. Challenges still remain in removing the latent solar component within the calibrated, atmospherically adjusted, and emissivity corrected night-time imagery.

Hydrothermal monitoring in Yellowstone National Park using airborne thermal infrared remote sensing

“…5b). Jaworowski, Heasler, Neale, Sivarajan, and Masih (2013) identified changes in HSB night TIR imagery that were consistent with the field observations shown in Fig. 5.…”

Dynamics of the Yellowstone hydrothermal system

“…Satellite‐based thermal infrared estimates account only for the radiant component of heat output from the YPVF (2 GW) [ Vaughan et al ., ] and therefore are much lower than those estimated with the chloride‐inventory method. Other studies that used airborne [ Jaworowski et al ., , , ] or satellite‐based methods [ Hellman and Ramsey , ; Watson et al ., ; Vaughan et al ., ; Savage et al ., ] to estimate radiative heat output were either limited in their spatial coverage, or used data acquired during daytime, which introduces significant errors. The large uncertainties associated with the chloride‐inventory method and the relation between radiative heat flux and total heat flux limit our ability to use heat as a tracer to constrain deep processes in Yellowstone's magmatic system.…”

“…Based on limited measurements, the total heat output is estimated to range between 140 and 370 MW [ Werner et al ., ]. The radiative heat output from the central Hot Spring Basin was estimated at 56–62 MW [ Jaworowski et al ., ]. In these acid sulfate thermal areas, a link between focused thermal activity and the orientation of mapped faults surrounding the thermal areas suggests that either these faults serve as discontinuities along which the acid fluids dissolve the rocks forming permeable flow channels or that these faults are active and form the permeable pathways to the surface [ Hurwitz et al ., ].…”

Hydrothermal Activity in the Southwest Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field

“…Bergfeld et al, 2012Bergfeld et al, , 2014Chiodini et al, 2012;Evans et al, 2006;Lowenstern et al, 2012;Werner et al, 2008) and used satellite and airborne thermal infrared (TIR) measurements (e.g. Jaworowski et al, 2013;Vaughan et al, 2012) to characterize more remote parts of the YPVF to improve the understanding of the magmatic-hydrothermal system and provide a baseline for detecting future anomalous activity. In September 2017 and July and September 2018, we conducted sampling campaigns in the southwest YPVF ( Figure 1) and used Landsat 8 TIR data to estimate radiative geothermal heat flow.…”