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Assessing Geothermal Influence on Vegetation Health through Time-Series Analysis.
Suleman, Widya Asoka (2025) Assessing Geothermal Influence on Vegetation Health through Time-Series Analysis.
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| Abstract: | Geothermal activity can influence vegetation health through changes in soil temperature, gas emissions, and geochemical anomalies. This study explores the use of time-series satellite imagery to assess vegetation responses to geothermal activity in the Papandayan geothermal field, West Java, Indonesia. By analysing multitemporal Sentinel-2 imagery from 2019 to 2025, four vegetation indices, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), and Red Edge Position (REP), were evaluated to detect stress patterns across forested zones. The analysis was restricted to forest zones to isolate consistent vegetation conditions using a manually digitized forest mask. Cloud-filtered and atmospherically corrected data were processed using Google Earth Engine. To validate satellite-derived patterns, vegetation indices were spatially compared with field-based data, including radon and mercury soil gas concentrations and geological fault maps. Results revealed generally healthy vegetation across the study period, with seasonal patterns visible in NDVI and REP. Slightly lower vegetation index values were observed in high-radon zones, suggesting potential localized stress. However, spatial correlations with fault proximity and mercury levels were weak. A notable exception was observed near a fault–river intersection with geothermal manifestations, where NDVI values were lower. While integrating satellite time series with field data offered valuable context, the relationship between geothermal factors and vegetation response appeared limited at the observed scale. Nonetheless, the approach provides a cost-effective and scalable tool for preliminary geothermal exploration, especially in data-scarce tropical regions |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | ITC: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation |
| Subject: | 38 earth sciences |
| Programme: | Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation MSc (75014) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/107920 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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