Identifying urban subsurface thermal and hydraulic processes from time-series groundwater temperature data

The subsurface Urban Heat Island effect has been proposed as a shallow geothermal energy resource, however, annual near-subsurface temperature variation may result in unexpected system performance. Understanding heat transport processes in the urban subsurface is key to managing and modelling city-scale thermal regimes for geothermal energy resource development. Existing studies have focussed on analysis of repeat temperature-depth profiles rather than long-term groundwater temperature time-series. We show here how time-series analysis can complement temperature-depth profiles and offer additional insights into the controls on subsurface thermal transport processes.

Annual variations in temperature time-series from 49 boreholes in the Cardiff Geo-observatory (UK), recorded between 2014-2018, fall into several distinct shape categories. We hypothesise these shapes are indicative of the dominance of particular flow and heat transport mechanisms such that sinusoidal profiles are associated with conduction-only settings, while ‘right-skewed’ profiles denote the influence of advection. Short-lived temperature events are observed on the cooling limbs of such profiles and are correlated with groundwater level rises, indicative of recharge events. These winter temperature drops have the effect of cooling groundwater faster in winter than it is warmed in summer. The short timescales of these events suggest recharge is localised and may be controlled by preferential flow paths within the superficial deposits overlying the aquifer. While these events do have an overall cooling effect on the seasonal temperature profile, groundwater temperatures following these events recover quickly to levels near what they were before the recharge event, suggestive of the presence of local thermal non-equilibrium with the gravel aquifer. More complex behaviours observed in boreholes located close to the city’s rivers indicate recharge responses coupled with the influence of stream-aquifer interactions. Thus, temperature time-series data have potential as a tool to identify subsurface hydraulic and thermal processes, with implications for geothermal exploration and the wider field of hydrogeology.