Assessing Thermal Pollution from Power Plants Using Landsat Imagery and Google Earth Engine: A Case Study of the Red Sea.

The impact of thermal pollution from a Shuqaiq Power and Desalination Plant on the southwestern coast of the Red Sea of Saudi Arabia was examined in this study. Using the JavaScript code on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, thermal band 10 of the Landsat 8 OLI-TIRS satellite imagery was employed to analyze the land surface temperature (LST) at water intake and discharge sites during the summer and winter of 2023. The study revealed consistent temperature differences between these locations, with the most significant variations observed during the summer. The discharge temperatures in May reached approximately 43 °C, which is approximately 5 °C higher than the intake temperatures. These seasonal fluctuations were attributed to ambient conditions and operational intensity. Elevated water temperatures at discharge points pose potential risks to marine ecosystems, as they can drastically decrease oxygen solubility and create stressful conditions for aquatic life. These findings highlight the necessity for ongoing environmental monitoring and improved cooling technologies to minimize thermal pollution and protect local biodiversity. Remote sensing techniques have emerged as efficient methods for ensuring environmental compliance by identifying thermal plumes around facilities that release heated effluents into water bodies, such as power plants and similar industries.