A novel technique to monitor thermal discharges using thermal infrared imaging.

Coastal temperature is an important indicator of water quality, particularly in regions where delicate ecosystems sensitive to water temperature are present. Remote sensing methods are highly reliable for assessing the thermal dispersion. The plume dispersion from the thermal outfall of the nuclear power plant at Kalpakkam, on the southeast coast of India, was investigated from March to December 2011 using thermal infrared images along with field measurements. The absolute temperature as provided by the thermal infrared (TIR) images is used in the Arc GIS environment for generating a spatial pattern of the plume movement. Good correlation of the temperature measured by the TIR camera with the field data (r(2) = 0.89) make it a reliable method for the thermal monitoring of the power plant effluents. The study portrays that the remote sensing technique provides an effective means of monitoring the thermal distribution pattern in coastal waters.

[1]  Clive Oppenheimer,et al.  Volcano surveillance using infrared cameras , 2011 .

[2]  S. Markowski.  The cooling water of power stations: a new factor in the environment of marine and freshwater invertebrates. , 1959 .

[3]  John F. Mustard,et al.  The Use of Satellite Data to Quantify Thermal Effluent Impacts , 1999 .

[4]  Alan R. Gillespie,et al.  Accuracy and uncertainty of thermal-infrared remote sensing of stream temperatures at multiple spatial scales , 2006 .

[5]  S. V. Narasimhan,et al.  Use of coastal waters as condenser coolant in electric power plants: Impact on phytoplankton and primary productivity , 2006 .

[6]  Eufemia Tarantino,et al.  Monitoring spatial and temporal distribution of Sea Surface Temperature with TIR sensor data , 2012 .

[7]  E. Naylor.  Effects of Heated Effluents upon Marine and Estuarine Organisms , 1965 .

[8]  S. V. Narasimhan,et al.  Thermal mapping in the Kalpakkam Coast (Bay of Bengal) in the vicinity of Madras atomic power station , 2005 .

[9]  Chuqun Chen,et al.  Application of Remote Sensing Techniques for Monitoring the Thermal Pollution of Cooling-Water Discharge from Nuclear Power Plant , 2003, Journal of environmental science and health. Part A, Toxic/hazardous substances & environmental engineering.

[10]  Hiroshi Kawamura,et al.  AVHRR satellite remote sensing and shipboard measurements of the thermal plume from the Daya Bay, nuclear power station, China , 2003 .

[11]  Palanisamy Shanmugam,et al.  Application of satellite infrared data for mapping of thermal plume contamination in coastal ecosystem of Korea. , 2006, Marine environmental research.

[12]  Christian E. Torgersen,et al.  Airborne thermal remote sensing for water temperature assessment in rivers and streams , 2001 .

[13]  R. Bamber,et al.  The benthos of a coastal power station thermal discharge canal , 1984, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[14]  S. Teggi.  Temperature of coastal waters and of watercourses from ASTER images , 2010 .