Using Thermal‐Infrared Imagery to Delineate Ground‐Water Discharge^d

Abstract

On March 8 and 9, 1992, a thermal‐infrared‐multispectral scanner (TIMS) was flown over two military ordnance disposal facilities at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. The data, collected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in cooperation with the U.S. Army and the U.S. Geological Survey, were used to locate ground‐water discharge zones in surface water. The images from the flight show areas where ground‐water discharge is concentrated, as well as areas of diffuse discharge. Concentrated discharge is predominant in isolated or nearly isolated ponds and creeks in the study area. Diffuse discharge is found near parts of the shoreline where the study area meets the surrounding estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay and the Gunpowder River. The average temperature for surface water, measured directly in the field, and the average temperature, calculated from atmospherically corrected TIMS images, was 10.6° C (Celsius) at the first of two sites. Potentiometric surface maps of both field sites show discharge toward the nontidal marshes, the estuaries which surround the field sites, and creeks which drain into the estuaries. The average measured temperature of ground water at both sites was 10.7° C. The calculated temperature from the TIMS imagery at both sites where ground‐water discharge is concentrated within a surface‐water body is 10.4° C. In the estuaries which surround the field sites, field measurements of temperature were made resulting in an average temperature of 9.0° C. The average calculated TIMS temperature from the estuaries was 9.3° C. Along the shoreline at the first site and within 40 to 80 meters of the western and southern shores of the second site, water was 1° to 2° C warmer than water more than 80 meters away. This pattern of warmer water grading to cooler water in an offshore direction could result from diffuse ground‐water discharge. Tonal differences in the TIMS imagery could indicate changes in surface‐water temperatures. These tonal differences can be interpreted to delineate the location and extent of ground‐water discharge to bodies of surface water.

Studying groundwater and surface water interactions using airborne remote sensing in Heihe River basin, northwest China

“…2(a) and (b)) (Banks et al, 1996;Torgersen et al, 2001). The visual interpretation is influenced by the interpreters' subjective factors and contains significant uncertainties.…”

“…Most previous studies used temperature as independent calibration data for coupled surface water and groundwater models (Brookfield et al, 2009) or analysed the surface water and groundwater interaction pattern by direct visual interpretation (Banks et al, 1996;Torgersen et al, 2001). The construction of coupled models is time consuming and the visual interpretation is always influenced by subjective factors.…”

“…For semi-arid and arid regions, the water exchange between surface water and groundwater is the critical process of the entire water cycle (Constantz et al, 2003a). Tracers are widely used by hydrologists to indicate the interaction pattern between surface water and groundwater (Banks et al, 1996;Torgersen et al, 2001;Constantz et al, 2003b;Huang et al, 2012). Utilizing geochemical tracers in surface water and groundwater interaction studies bears the disadvantages of uncertainties from the spatial heterogeneity and measurement equipment errors.…”

Response of a fractured bedrock aquifer to recharge from heavy rainfall events

“…Popular applications of handheld and infrared technology examine discrete groundwater discharge, surface water-groundwater interactions, and submarine groundwater discharge (Vivas Becerras, 2014;Deitchman and Loheide, 2009;Roeper et al, 2014;Pandey et al, 2013;Pfister et al, 2010;Schuetz and Weiler, 2011;Hare et al, 2015;Banks et al, 1996). For example, Vivas Becerras (2014) captured thermal images of the Stawamus Chief, a granite monolith in Squamish, British Columbia, and found that lower temperature values were associated with water seepage on the rock face.…”

Assessment of submarine groundwater discharge by handheld aerial infrared imagery: case study of Kaloko fishpond and bay, Hawai'i

“…Use of temperature has the particular advantage that it can be measured rapidly over large areas by remote thermal infrared (IR) imaging (Banks et al 1996, Lavery et al 1993, Torgersen et al 2001. In Hawai'i, infrared and multispectral imaging of the coastlines were conducted as early as the late 1960s (Adams and Lepley 1968, Fischer et al 1966, Lepley and Palmer 1967; however, little ground truthing was conducted.…”