Date of Award:

5-2017

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Christopher M. U. Neale

Committee

Christopher M. U. Neale

Committee

Jagath J. Kaluarchchi

Committee

David K. Stevens

Committee

Lawrence E. Hipps

Committee

Heng Ban

Abstract

Monitoring thermal activity in Yellowstone National Park is required by the United States Congress to maintain the safety of the visitors and park service personnel and to protect the integrity of the park. This dissertation is part of a study initiated in the early 2000s to monitor the thermal activity in the park with focus on Norris Geyser Basin, the hottest geyser basin in the park. The study is considered the first multiple-year study in the basin which took place between August 2008 and October 2013. In this study, at least one thermal infrared image was acquired every year using airborne remote sensing tools to estimate the surface radiant temperature. The images were used to estimate and compare changes in surface radiant temperature and other radiant components including radiant flux and radiant power, which were estimated from the radiant temperature images over Norris.

To compare yearly changes in the radiant flux due to the thermal source alone, the stored solar flux was estimated and subtracted from the total radiant flux image. Two methods were suggested in this dissertation to estimate the stored solar flux which were addressed in Chapters 2 and 4. The assumptions and implications of each method were discuss to suggest a reliable method to estimate the geothermal heat flux.

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