Monday, November 27, 2017

Science & Technology: Study Reveals Sources of Geothermal Energy in Greenland

Predicting the geothermal heat flux in Greenland: a Machine Learning approach (Geophysical Research Letters)

By Soroush Rezvanbehbahani et al
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 44, Issue 21,
DOI: 10.1002/2017GL075661


Geothermal heat flux (GHF) is a crucial boundary condition for making accurate predictions of ice sheet mass loss, yet it is poorly known in Greenland due to inaccessibility of the bedrock. Here we use a machine learning algorithm on a large collection of relevant geologic features and global GHF measurements, and produce a GHF map in Greenland which we argue is within ∼15% accuracy.

The main features of our predicted GHF map include a large region with high GHF in central-north Greenland surrounding the NorthGRIP ice core site, and hotspots in the Jakobshavn Isbræ catchment, upstream of Petermann Gletscher, and near the terminus of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier.

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