Distributed fiber‐optic temperature sensing for hydrologic systems

Instruments for distributed fiber‐optic measurement of temperature are now available with temperature resolution of 0.01°C and spatial resolution of 1 m with temporal resolution of fractions of a minute along standard fiber‐optic cables used for communication with lengths of up to 30,000 m. We discuss the spectrum of fiber‐optic tools that may be employed to make these measurements, illuminating the potential and limitations of these methods in hydrologic science. There are trade‐offs between precision in temperature, temporal resolution, and spatial resolution, following the square root of the number of measurements made; thus brief, short measurements are less precise than measurements taken over longer…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• ÉP
  École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
• MU
  Masarykova Univerzita