Research article Scottish Journal of Geology Published online May 27, 2020 https://doi.org/10.1144/sjg2019-033 | Vol. 56 | 2020 | pp. 134–152 Borehole temperature log from the Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site: a record of past changes to ground surface temperature caused by urban development Sean M. Watson and Rob Westaway* James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, James Watt (South) Building, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK SMW, 0000-0002-2218-9188;RW,0000-0001-5683-4192 * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: As part of the Glasgow Geothermal Energy Research Field Site (GGERFS) project, intended as a test site for mine-water geothermal heat, the GGC-01 borehole was drilled in the Dalmarnock area in the east of the city of Glasgow, starting in November 2018. It was logged in January 2019 to provide a record of subsurface temperature to 197 m depth, in this urban area with a long history of coal mining and industrial development. This borehole temperature record is significantly perturbed away from its natural state, in part because of the ‘permeabilizing’ effect of past nearby coal mining and in part due to surface warming as a result of the combination of anthropogenic climate change and creation of a subsurface urban heat island by local urban development. Our numerical modelling indicates the total surface warming effect as 2.7°C, partitioned as 2.0°C of global warming since the Industrial Revolution and 0.7°C of local UHI development. We cannot resolve the precise combination of local factors that influence the surface warming because uncertainty in the subsurface thermal properties trades against uncertainty in the history of surface warming.