In areas of enhanced heat flow, geothermal heating can be usedto supply heating to homes, either by using ground water directlyor by placing a water reservoir at depth. In Iceland, where theaverage temperature over the year is 4.6ºC, the geothermal flux canbe as high as 300 mW m-2.
(a)
If you wanted to be able to supply a home with indoortemperature at 25ºC and water at a temperature of 55ºC, how deepwould your reservoir need to be?
(b)
Why might Iceland have such a high geothermal flux compared toother areas?
(c)
Does high geothermal flux accelerate the melting of ice sheets,why or why not?
