2010/02/22 by J. H. Davies, D. Rhodri Davies · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Computer Science · Environmental Science · #Geological and Geochemical Analysis #Geochemistry and Geologic Mapping #Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics #Geology #Lithosphere #Crust #Polygon (computer graphics) #Grid #Geodesy #Heat flux #Geophysics #Tectonics #Heat transfer #Seismology #Computer science
paper · pdf · doi:10.5194/se-1-5-2010
openalex publication_date 2010/02/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract. We present a revised estimate of Earth's surface heat flux that is based upon a heat flow data-set with 38 347 measurements, which is 55% more than used in previous estimates. Our methodology, like others, accounts for hydrothermal circulation in young oceanic crust by utilising a half-space cooling approximation. For the rest of Earth's surface, we estimate the average heat flow for different geologic domains as defined by global digital geology maps; and then produce the global estimate by multiplying it by the total global area of that geologic domain. The averaging is done on a polygon set which results from an intersection of a 1 degree equal area grid with the original geology polygons; this minimises the adverse influence of clustering. These operations and estimates are derived accurately using methodologies from Geographical Information Science. We consider the virtually un-sampled Antarctica separately and also make a small correction for hot-spots in young oceanic lithosphere. A range of analyses is presented. These, combined with statistical estimates of the error, provide a measure of robustness. Our final preferred estimate is 47±2 TW, which is greater than previous estimates.