The Heat is On! Fibre optic geothermal testing of a Chalk Aquifer

A lightning talk, presented at water@leeds' 2025 Confluence meeting. The presentation summarises the link between water and the sustainablity of a geothermal resource, and gives an overview of work we've been doing as part of the SmartRes project to understand the geothermal behaviour of UK aquifers - in this case, the Chalk Aquifer in Berkshire. At the heart of this are fibre optic technologies, that convert fibre optic cable into a string of sensors that can characterise thermal and/or mechnical strain. Access to these systems may be a good way to strengthen links between two Leeds centres, in Water and Geosolutions research.