Environ Earth Sci (2011) 62:717–723
DOI 10.1007/s12665-010-0560-0
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Probable regional geothermal field reconnaissance in the Aegean
region from modern multi-temporal night LST imagery
D. Zouzias • George Ch. Miliaresis •
K. St. Seymour
Received: 9 October 2009 / Accepted: 24 April 2010 / Published online: 12 May 2010
Ó Springer-Verlag 2010
Abstract The Hellenic Peninsula and the adjacent
Aegean and Ionian seas are segmented into regions on the
basis of Terra satellite-MODIS instrument derived land
surface temperatures (LST) to test if they can be used in the
field reconnaissance for potential geothermal targets, each
region representing a different thermal signature. The
method has been used successfully to identify hot spot and
geothermal activity in the Afar Triangle and in the Red
Sea. Night monthly average LST values per pixel, since
2001, are used in this work for geothermal field identifi-
cation. Average LST seasonal variability is expressed by a
common centroid curve of pixel cluster. Clusters were
subsequently ranked in increasing LST according to their
centroids. Cluster-2 represents by far the Aegean volcanic
arc (AVA) which comprises the high enthalpy (320 and
350°C, respectively) geothermal fields of Milos and Nisy-
ros. The interpretation of LST terrain segmentation into
sub-clusters of Cluster-2 is consistent with thermal anom-
alies related to the volcano-islands of the AVA, the
occurrence of thermal anomalies related to granodiorite
plutons in the Cyclades and to the volcano-related anom-
alies of the Dodecanese Province. We conclude that the
identification of such thermal anomalies obtained by a
D. Zouzias (&)
G. Ch. Miliaresis
K. St. Seymour
Department of Geology, University of Patras,
26504 Rion, Greece
e-mail: dizouzias@upatras.gr
G. Ch. Miliaresis
e-mail: gmiliar@yahoo.com
K. St. Seymour
e-mail: kstseymr@upatras.gr
K. St. Seymour
Department of Geography, Urban Planning and Environment,
Concordia University, Montreal, QC H3G1M8, Canada
combination of remote sensing (LST), regional geology
and field data (borehole, thermal spring and subsurface
hydrothermal reservoir temperatures) can be a particularly
useful exploration tool for localizing geothermal
anomalies.
Keywords Multi-temporal data

Land surface temperature
Digital elevation model

Terrain segmentation
Geothermal anomalies
Introduction
Modern operational space-borne sensors with spectral
sensitivity in the thermal infrared spectrum allow moni-
toring of the Earth’s thermal field at a moderate spatial
resolution (Lillelsand and Kiefer 1987). Thus, thermal
imagery products are available on regular and frequent
basis for both the land and the oceans (Vogelmann et al.
1998; Wan et al. 2004; Bartholome and Belward 2005).
Data availability incites the analysis of the long time series
of thermal images in an attempt to closely monitor regions
and provide information about the changes in LST from
multi-temporal imagery (Miliaresis and Tsatsaris 2010).
Standard multi-temporal LST imagery was proved to be a
valuable data source that assisted regional geologic map-
ping and geophysical interpretation in the Afar Triangle
and allowed the identification of both the major regional
geothermal field (hot spot activity) and the localized
geothermal activity during the September 2005 seismic-
volcanic crisis (Miliaresis 2009). Multi-temporal sea sur-
face temperature (SST) imagery was also used to identify
and map a seasonal cold thermal SST anomaly in Red Sea
related to underwater diastrophism (Miliaresis and St
Seymour 2010).
123
718
The Aegean Arc consists from West to East of Methana,
Aegina, Poros, Milos, Thera, Nisyros, and Kos volcanoes.
The existence of a geothermal field is related to volcanic
activity and volcano-related phenomena such as calderas,
thermal springs, and circulation of thermal waters. Identi-
fication of such thermal anomalies can be detected by
Remote Sensing methods and verified by field measure-
ments. Therefore, Remote Sensing applications can pro-
vide a useful tool for geothermal exploration.
In the Aegean Arc the attempt to exploit geothermal
energy from the ‘‘high enthalpy’’ geothermal fields of
Milos and Nisyros were not attained due to opposition of
the local population. For this reason no further research
in the high-enthalpy fields of these islands was carried
out.
The reasons for the seasonal LST differences can be
attributed to (a) elevation differences, (b) difference in
latitude among the spatial objects, (c) the relative position
of a spatial object with respect to the sea environment, and
(d) meteorological conditions that are related to longitude
differences (for example there are more rainfalls in the
western than in the eastern part of Greece) according to
Miliaresis and Tsatsaris (2010).
The regional geothermal effects (volcanic fields, geo-
thermal fields) that are also associated with lithology,
tectonics, and hydrogeology should also affect the seasonal
LST variability in certain places under certain geologic
conditions.
Towards this end, monthly averaged night LST imagery
was analyzed for the year-period 2006, in an attempt to
capture the regional seasonal variability of LST in the
Hellenic region. Then, the terrain was segmented into
domains with different LST seasonal variability (thermal
terrain segmentation) to assist probable geothermal field
reconnaissance by studying the spatial distribution of the
zones with the highest seasonal LST.
Methodology
It is assumed that night monthly averaged LST values
per pixel are suitable for regional geothermal field identi-
fication (Miliaresis 2009). Clustering (Mather 2004) is
expected to define groups of pixels with a common cen-
troid curve that expresses their average LST seasonal
variability. Existing geothermal fields in Milos, Thera, and
Nisyros volcanic complexes will be used as test sites for
identifying localized regional LST anomalies that might be
correlated to geothermal activity. Initially, the study area,
the spatial objects, and the LST multi-temporal imagery are
presented. Then, the terrain is segmented into regions from
the multi-temporal LST data, each region representing a
different thermal signature.
123
Environ Earth Sci (2011) 62:717–723
Geology of the study area
The study area in southeastern Europe is bound by lati-
tudes 34°–45° North and longitudes 21°–30° East (Fig. 1).
Hellas is endowed with numerous thermal and mineral
springs (Giono-Stavropoulou 1983; Sfetsos 1998) due to
volcanism and its unstable geodynamic pattern. The
Aegean volcanic arc consists from West to East of cal-
calkaline volcanoes such as Methana, Aegina, Poros,
Milos, Thera, Nisyros, and Kos (Fig. 1), due to subduc-
tion of Africa under Eurasia. The ‘‘high enthalpy’’ geo-
thermal fields of Milos and Nisyros are hot water brine
systems of temperatures 320 and 350°C, respectively,
which were identified from deep exploratory wells (Fyti-
kas 1988; Fytikas et al. 1995; Karkoulias et al. 2002;
Chiotis et al. 1990). The study area is also characterized
by ‘‘low enthalpy’’ geothermal fields across the mainland
such as Strymonas, Xanthi-Komotini, the delta of Nestos,
Mygdonia and Anthemounta of Thessaloniki, Spercheios,
and Lesvos Island (Fytikas et al. 2000). The total geo-
thermal potential of the known geothermal fields in Hellas
is estimated approximately at 450 MW (Fytikas et al.
2000).
Other surface thermal anomalies are related to ‘‘gra-
nitic’’ intrusions as in the Attico-Cycladic Massif or to the
thermal ‘‘remnants’’ of Miocene and more recent volca-
nism such as the volcanic activity along Asian Minor in
Anatolia and Eastern Aegean Sea (e.g. Lesvos, Samoth-
race, Chios and Patmos).
Multi-temporal LST data
The series of Terra and Aqua satellites provide the great
advantage of the MODerate-resolution imaging spectrora-
diometer (MODIS) image availability on a day and night
Fig. 1 Study area and location of the Aegean Volcanic Arc
Environ Earth Sci (2011) 62:717–723
basis (Wan et al. 2004). The LST algorithm used to obtain
the MODIS products uses as input data geolocation, radi-
ance, cloud masking, atmospheric temperature, water
vapor, snow, and land cover, providing day and night LST
(per-pixel temperature) products.
The LST dataset (with accuracy of 1 Kelvin) derived
from a MODIS instrument on board the Terra polar
orbiting satellite was used in this study (Wan et al. 2004).
These products are available on regular and frequent basis
for both land and the oceans (WIST 2008). Monthly
averaged data for both the ascending pass (daytime) and
descending pass (night time) are available from 2001 to
date. More specifically, the days and nights in clear sky
conditions and with validated LST values within a calendar
month are combined and averaged. Thus, images corre-
spond to mean monthly day/night LST values on a 0.05°
latitude/longitude grid. Note that morning (around 10:30
a.m.) end evening (around 10:30 p.m.) passes are available
daily from Terra satellite.
The 12 images that correspond to the monthly night LST
of the year 2006 are given in Fig. 2. The data for the study
Fig. 2 Monthly night LST (the darker a pixel is, the greater the LST)
719
area were reprojected to HGRS87 (Mugnier 2002) and
resampled by the nearest neighbor.
Terrain segmentation from multi-temporal LST data
K-Means cluster analysis was used to partition the
12-dimensional imagery (Fig. 2) into K exclusive clusters.
It begins by initializing cluster centroids, then assigns each
pixel to the cluster whose centroid is nearest, updates the
cluster centroids, and then repeats the process until the
stopping criteria are satisfied (Mather 2004). It uses
Euclidian distance for calculating the distances between
pixels and cluster centroids. The underlying idea of cluster
analysis is that the cluster centroids represent the mean
expression of the derived clusters. The 12 thermal images
(Fig. 2) presented a common arithmetic range of values in
the interval of -2 to 29 degrees Celsius and there is no
need for data standardization. In the current implementa-
tion of the method, small clusters with an area extent
\0.5% were eliminated by merging them with larger
clusters that are closest to their centroids. The stopping
123
720 Environ Earth Sci (2011) 62:717–723

Table 1 The centroids and the corresponding occurrence (percent area occupied by each LST cluster)
Time LST cluster centroid (degrees celsius)
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

January -0.01 5.62 0.35 2.33 -0.07 -0.12 -0.24 -0.06

February 0.01 5.83 3.38 4.05 1.13 0.03 0.70 -0.16
March 0.34 8.83 5.68 6.83 2.99 2.47 4.61 0.20
April 3.80 11.49 9.61 9.78 5.75 6.96 8.80 3.72
May 9.30 17.97 14.92 16.27 14.82 11.74 13.74 12.30
June 13.05 21.42 18.61 20.08 18.27 15.43 17.55 15.32
July 14.40 23.26 20.35 22.01 20.42 16.89 18.91 18.30
August 16.36 25.24 22.02 23.86 23.51 18.40 20.55 21.03
September 10.89 21.42 16.97 19.07 16.69 13.65 15.45 14.30
October 7.42 16.16 12.59 13.41 8.73 9.66 11.21 6.49
November 1.79 12.86 6.87 9.51 6.83 3.66 5.00 3.02
December -0.48 10.42 3.69 6.76 3.76 0.68 1.58 0.85
Occurrence (%) 7.0 5.8 16.6 17.3 9.0 15.5 23.1 5.6

Fig. 3 The 8-cluster centroids

are presented as LST versus
time (month) curves at the top
left and their corresponding
occurrence at the top right.
A data-driven classification of
clusters to either warm (clusters
3, 5, 4, 2) or cold groups
(clusters 1, 6, 7, 8) is performed
on the basis of the cluster
centroid co-ordinates. In order
to assist interpretation the
centroids of clusters 2, 4, 5, and
8 are presented in the figure
bottom left while clusters 1, 3,
6, and 7 were included in the
figure bottom right

criterion was defined as the percentage of the migrating
pixels during a specific iteration (if it was \0.1% of the
entire image pixels the clustering was terminated). Eight
clusters were mapped after 74 iterations. The cluster cen-
troids (Table 1) are presented in Fig. 3 while their spatial
distribution of cluster is given in Fig. 4.
The pixels that belong to cluster 2 (Fig. 5), presenting
the highest mean monthly LST were further segmented into
four sub-clusters to map the LST variations (Table 2;
Figs. 6, 7). The cluster centroids (Table 2) are presented in
Fig. 6 and their spatial distribution of the four sub-clusters
of cluster 2 is given in Fig. 7.
Results
The interpretation of LST terrain segmentation (Figs. 3, 4)
indicates that the greatest night monthly LST values are

123
Environ Earth Sci (2011) 62:717–723 721

Fig. 4 The spatial distribution of the eight clusters derived by the segmentation of the monthly night LST imagery

Table 2 The centroids and the corresponding occurrence (percent

area occupied by each LST cluster) of the four sub-clusters of cluster
2 (Table 1)
Month Cluster centroids (LST in celsius)
1 2 3 4

January 6.50 7.71 4.32 3.90

February 5.33 6.85 5.74 4.95
March 8.40 9.88 9.11 7.04
April 10.99 12.09 12.35 9.26
May 17.43 18.73 18.01 17.32
June 20.88 21.64 21.88 20.75
July 22.29 23.69 23.63 22.99
August 24.51 25.68 25.55 24.72
September 20.34 22.49 21.45 20.95
October 14.98 17.27 15.90 16.36
November 11.44 14.45 12.11 13.61
December 9.68 12.66 8.95 10.82
Occurrence (%) 20.5 27.2 35.8 16.5
Fig. 5 The spatial distribution of the cluster 2 and tentative
correlation to the location of existing geothermal activity
Discussion

observed during the summer period for cluster 2 (SE and S
islands in the Aegean Sea) and cluster 4 (regions in SW and
S mainland, Athens and some islands in central and wes-
tern Aegean Sea). Additionally, the coldest (winter period)
regions correspond to cluster 1 and 6 in the North and
along the central mainland.
The percent of area (occurrence) occupied by each LST
cluster per spatial object is given in Table 1. Note that the
clusters were ranked in increasing LST according to their
centroids (Fig. 3).
The interpretation of LST terrain segmentation (Figs. 3, 4)
for a preliminary exploration and evaluation of possible
geothermal-targets/thermal-anomalies indicates SE and S
islands in the Aegean Sea (cluster 2; Fig. 5), and cluster 4
(regions in SW and S mainland, Athens and some islands in
central and western Aegean Sea) as fields of potential
geothermal-targets/thermal-anomalies. Cluster 2 represents
mainly the Aegean Volcanic Arc (Methana, Milos, Thera,
Kos, and Nisyros volcanoes; Fig. 1) and the forefront of the
subduction zone of the African plate under the microplate

123
722 Environ Earth Sci (2011) 62:717–723

of the Aegean Sea (Southern Crete, Karpathos and southern
Rhodes; Figs. 1, 5). The interpretation of LST terrain
segmentation into sub-clusters (Figs. 6, 7) of cluster 2
regarding the Aegean Volcanic Arc is consistent with the
Fig. 6 The four sub-cluster centroids presented as LST versus time
(month) curves of cluster 2
occurrence of thermal anomalies related to granodioritic
plutons of Cyclades and to the volcano-related anomalies
of the Dodecanese Province, as well as these on the vol-
cano-islands of Thera, Milos, Kos, and Nisyros (Fig. 1).
More specifically, on subcluster 2.1 (Fig. 7) one can
observe sparse pixels in central Cyclades, eastern Crete,
and western Rhodes (Fig. 1). The pixels occupying the
caldera of the volcano of Thera are more interesting
(Fig. 7) since they coincide with the volcano and the out-
flows (thermal springs) of the related geothermal field. On
subcluster 2.2 (Fig. 7), sparse pixels occupy southeastern
Crete, southern Karpathos, and form a lineament along the
Dodecanese Province. On this subcluster the more inter-
esting pixels are those occupying the southern part of the
geothermal field of Nisyros volcano (Fig. 7), overlying the
Avlaki thermal spring and the intracaldera phreatic crater
of Stefanos. Pixels occupying the Kefalos gulf (Kos
Plateau Tuff and Kefalos Tuff Ring volcanic products) in
Kos Island represent another potential geothermal region
which was characterized by Pliocene volcanic activity (Kos
Plateau Tuff and Kefalos Tuff Ring eruptions; Fig. 7) and

Fig. 7 The spatial distribution

of the four sub-clusters derived
by the segmentation of the
monthly night LST imagery
for the pixels belonging to
cluster 2

123
Environ Earth Sci (2011) 62:717–723
the probable existence of the northern rim of an inundated
caldera of a supervolcano (Allen 2001; Zouzias and St
Seymour 2008). On subcluster 2.2, pixels occupying the
caldera of Thera volcano (Fig. 7) provide evidence of the
existence of a geothermal field. On subcluster 2.3 (Fig. 7)
one can recognize pixels occupying the area immediately
south of Prophitis Helias volcanic dome, the highest in
Milos (Golden Mountain), which is related to a known
high-enthalpy geothermal field and epithermal Au miner-
alization system (Kilias et al. 1997), as well as pixels that
occupy the caldera of Thera and its related geothermal
field. Sparse pixels are located in central Cyclades and
along the Dodecanese Province (Fig. 7; subcluster 3).
Subcluster 2.4 (Fig. 7) displays a few sparse pixels which
are located along the Dodecanese Province; however, on
Kos island it is of great interest that one pixel plots close to
the Miocene Monzonite intrusion in the region of
‘‘Therma’’ where the ancient thermal baths of Hippocrates
were located.
Subclusters 2.1 and 2.3 (Fig. 7) indicate sparse distri-
bution of pixels around the central Cyclades. This could
be explained by the thermal anomalies produced by the
granodioritic plutons that characterize this area. On the
other hand, subclusters 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 display sparse
pixels along the Dodecanese Province which could be
assigned to thermal ‘‘remnant’’ anomalies due to Miocene-
Early Pliocene volcanism in the eastern Aegean-western
Anatolia region.
Conclusions
The thermal (LST) terrain segmentation and the interpre-
tation of the resulting clusters identified (1) thermal
anomalies produced by the granodioritic plutons of the
Central Cyclades (subclusters 2.1 and 2.3), (2) thermal
‘‘remnant’’ anomalies of the Dodecanese Province (sub-
clusters 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4) due to Miocene-Early Pliocene
volcanism in the eastern Aegean western Anatolia region,
and (3) thermal anomalies of the Central Aegean (sub-
clusters 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3) which are related to the Thera and
Milos volcanoes and their associated geothermal systems.
The interpretation of geothermal anomalies from modern
thermal remote sensing imagery and geological field data
(geologic maps, borehole data etc.) provides new frontiers
in the exploration of geothermal resources and volcanic
fields.
Acknowledgments The paper has greatly improved from the criti-
cism and suggestions of an anonymous reviewer. The MODIS/Terra
land surface temperature/emissivity monthly L3 global 0.05 deg
CMG product used in this research effort, was obtained from the US
Geological Survey web server at the address: http://lpdaac.usgs.
gov/modis/.
723
References
Allen SR (2001) Reconstruction of a major caldera-forming eruption
from pyroclastic deposit characteristics: Kos Plateau Tuff,
eastern Aegean Sea. J Volcan Geotherm Res 105:141–162
Bartholome E, Belward AS (2005) CLC2000, a new approach to
global land cover mapping from Earth observation data. Int J
Remote Sens 26:1959–1977
Chiotis E, Fytikas M, Taktikos S (1990) Overview of the geothermal
activities in Greece during 1985–1989. Geotherm Resour Counc
Trans 14(1):79–85
Fytikas M (1988) Geothermal situation in Greece. Geothermics
17(2/3):549–556
Fytikas M, Dalambakis P, Karkoulias V, Mendrinos M (1995)
Geothermal exploration and development activities in Greece
during 1990–1994. In: Proceedings world geothermal congress
1995, IGA, Rome, pp 119–127
Fytikas M, Andritsos N, Karydakis G, Kolios N, Mendrinos D,
Papachristou M (2000) Geothermal exploration and development
activities in Greece during 1995–1999, Proceedings world geother-
mal congress, 2000 Kyushu-Tohoku, Japan, May 28–June 10, 2000
Giono-Stavropoulou G (1983) Inventory of thermal-mineral springs
of Greece–Aegean Sea. I.G.M.E, Athens
Karkoulias V, Fytikas M, Dalambakis V, Mendrinos M (2002) In:
Suzanne H, Ralph H (eds) Atlas of geothermal resources in
Europe—contribution for Greece, European Commission—
Research Directorate General. Publication No EUR 17811 of
the European Commission, pp 35–36, 67–68, 81, plates 25–28
Kilias S, Cheliotis I, Constandinidou E, Crossing J, Naden J,
Shepherd TJ, Simos I (1997) Epithermal gold mineralization in
the Aegean: the profitis Ilias deposit, Milos island, Greece.
Congrès XIV ECROFI: European current research on fluid
inclusions: (Nancy, July 1–4, 1997, abstracts) European current
research on fluid inclusions. Biennial symposium No. 14, Nancy,
FRANCE (01/07/1997) 1997, pp 155–156 [Note(s): XVII, p 365]
Lillelsand T, Kiefer R (1987) Remote sensing and image interpre-
tation, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York
Mather P (2004) Computer processing of remotely-sensed images, 3rd
edn. Wiley, New York
Miliaresis G (2009) Regional thermal and terrain modeling of the
Afar depression from multi-temporal night LST data. Int J
Remote Sens 30(9):2429–2446
Miliaresis G, St Seymour K (2010) Mapping the spatial & temporal
SST variations in Red Sea, revealing a probable regional
geothermal anomaly from Pathfinder V5 data. Int J Remote
Sens (in press)
Miliaresis G, Tsatsaris A (2010) Thermal terrain modeling of spatial
objects, a tool for environmental and climatic change assess-
ment. Environ Monit Assess 164:561–572. doi:10.1007/s10661-
009-0913-x
Mugnier C (2002) Grids & datum: the Hellenic republic. Photogramm
Eng Remote Sens 68:1237–1238
Sfetsos CS (1998) Inventory of thermal-mineral springs of Greece—
Mainland of Greece. I.G.M.E, Athens
Vogelmann JE, Sohl TL, Campbell PV, Shaw DM (1998) Regional
land cover characterization using landsat thematic mapper data
and ancillary data sources. Environ Monit Assess 51:415–428
Wan Z, Zhang Y, Zhang Q, Li ZL (2004) Quality assessment and
validation of the MODIS land surface temperature. Int J Remote
Sens 25:261–274
WIST (2008) Data interface. NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD. URL:
https://wist.echo.nasa.gov/api
Zouzias D, St Seymour K (2008) Consanguineous geochemistry of the
Kos Plateau and Tilos D and E Pumices, Aegean Volcanic Arc,
Hellas. Neues Jahrbuch fur Mineralogie Abh 184(3):231–241
123
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.