High resolution airborne thermal infrared remote sensing study, Silali geothermal prospect, Kenya

Abstract

Airborne high-resolution thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing has proven to be an effective method for mapping surface spatial temperature patterns. As geothermal energy continues to be a source of safe, reliable and renewable source of energy world over, TIR remote sensing has formed a key component of geothermal exploration. When combined with other spatial datasets, the TIR data showed areas of thermal influence resulting from geothermal activity associated with point, area and linear sources such as fumaroles, hot ground, fissures and faults. This paper describes the image acquisition and processing methodology, of high-resolution airborne thermography conducted over 2000 km2 within the Silali geothermal prospect. The objective of the study was to characterize the geothermal features for further focused geothermal exploration studies.