USA, Alaska:

Measuring and Modeling Geothermal Resources at Pilgrim Hot Springs (Frontier Scientists)

Pilgrim Hot Springs simulation data points (below ground) / Ronald Daanen

There’s a place where the perennially frozen ground of the Alaskan tundra is interrupted by 2 square miles [~ 5 km² ] of thawed soil. There, cottonwoods and thick brush grow among lazily meandering waterways.

The Pilgrim Hot Springs are a pleasant symptom of the geothermal heat which warms the earth deep beneath Alaska’s Seward Peninsula, not so far south from the Arctic Circle. There, deep below the surface, hot water rises through fractures in the bedrock that comprises the valley floor.

The Alaska Center for Energy & Power (ACEP), supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Alaska Energy Authority, undertook scientific testing to determine whether the geothermal resource at Pilgrim Hot Springs could provide the city of Nome, Alaska, with a worthwhile power source. ACEP brought together an interdisciplinary team of skilled scientific professionals to explore the geothermal potential of the area.

Enter two team members: Ronald Daanen, geohydrologist in the Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, and Anupma Prakash, professor in geophysics remote sensing at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. They utilize their expertise to gain data about the geothermal characteristics of Pilgrim Hot Springs valley which combine to create a valuable computational model.

Read More......