Thermal mapping of the Columbia River at Hanford using an infrared imaging system

摘要

The infrared imagery data was collected September 13, 1966 from 1010--1013 o'clock, using a mercury-doped germanium detector which was filtered to respond to wave lengths of infrared radiation. The magnetic-tape recorded information was processed with a computer program to obtain quantitative evaluations of river temperature variations and to accurately define surface temperature patterns resulting from the discharge of reactor effluents into the river. The river surface-temperature information collected in the vicinity of the reactor areas was plotted as contours of equal voltage readings which are essentially analogous to isothermal contours. The patterns which developed show clearly: the paths and thermal variations of reactor effluent plumes in the River, points where retention basin subsurface leakage enters the river via the ground water route, and those reaches across from the reactors where the River is recharged by ground water significantly colder than the water released from the Priest Rapids Pool.