Airborne thermal data for detecting karst water resources in the Kotor Bay

In the last decade the direct impacts by human activities cause an irreversible damage to the local natural water balance in coastal and transition regions. For this reason, the demand from water resources management authorities has progressively increased. The needs of useful tools for understanding, monitoring and managing the water resource are an important duty to local authorities. The Kotor Bay is one of the most noteworthy natural areas of the Mediterranean, surrounded by high mountains. The rain waters run-off and the groundwater discharge and its outcrops (coastal and submarine springs) make underground rivers that flow into the bay. Airborne thermal data were processed to identify sea surface thermal anomalies related to the karstic springs water inside the Kotor Bay. The results show that thermal data allows pointing out those sites on which a check for a proper water management is required.