Geothermal energy abounds in Iceland, the North Atlantic island nation with regular, high-profile volcanic eruptions. The island’s active magmatism and volcanism support six geothermal plants, which account for more than 25% of the country’s overall electricity needs. Geothermal energy heats nearly 85% of the homes on the island.
Krafla, in the northern part of the island, is one of Iceland’s active geothermal-producing regions. Krafla’s high-temperature geothermal system sits in a volcanic caldera and has produced energy for more than 40 years. However, despite this intensive energy production, a reservoir model of the Krafla geothermal system has not been published in peer-reviewed literature since the 1980s, leaving a data void and potentially untapped resources.
In a new study, Scott et al. present a new 3D natural state model of the Krafla geothermal system. To develop the model, the authors inserted data from the extensively drilled geothermal field into a Bayesian framework. Bayesian models digest uncertainty from the input parameters, quantify uncertainty in the results, and use Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling methods to generate statistics.
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