GeoThopica, whose name is inspired by Greek (Geo - γεω for Earth, Th recalls the heat thalpos - θάλπος and topos - τόπος indicates the place), is a portal set up in 2007 by the Institute of Geosciences and Georisources of the National Research Council - CNR to revive the National Geothermal Data Bank (BNDG), inserting it in a modern WebGIS system and updating its content.
Geothopica 2.0is the renewed and advanced version of the portal, which expands data and information as well as data access functionalities, and derives from the activities of the numerous national and international projects of CNR-IGG. Geothermal information is accessible through our applications, and documents are classified and explorable according to different categories.
In addition to containing stratigraphic and thermal subsurface data, the database collects data of geothermal interest from thermal springs, gaseous manifestations and wells, including numerous geochemical data from scientific literature.
The maps at national level include those produced during the Inventory of Geothermal Resources and in scientific publications, such as the distribution of isotherms at 1000, 2000 and 3000 metres above ground level, heat flow at the surface. Maps of favourability for hydrothermal and non-conventional geothermal systems are available for 9 regions of Southern Italy, and for 4 of them (Convergence Regions - Calabria, Campania, Apulia and Sicily - analysed by the VIGOR project) maps of geothermal potential for electricity production, district heating and cooling, geothermal exchange potential for closed circuit geothermal heat pumps (GHP) and favourability for open circuit GHP are also available. All these maps are also accompanied by supporting information layers.
The portal also organises further information related to geothermal energy in Italy(bibliography, terminology, authorisation procedures, documents and links).
The Geothopica portal is a useful tool not only in geothermal energy but for all projects that require information about the subsurface - for example CO2 storage - and fits perfectly into the research carried out by the Institute of Geosciences and Georesources of the CNR, which is responsible for its compilation.