Newcastle University leads the ViTAL Living Lab, established to conduct and assess experiments to quantify RAF efforts to Net Zero carbon emissions. Currently, the MoD contributes around 50% of all government departmental carbon emissions, so the RAF has a significant challenge ahead if it is to decarbonise by 2040. Newcastle University is partnering with STRYDE, which helps organisations from around the globe to acquire a high-resolution imaging of the subsurface, to explore novel approaches to characterising the potential to harness geothermal energy for heating.

Advances in onshore seismic acquisition and processing can support accelerating the development of geothermal energy, which to date has been an underdeveloped resource. In the UK, geothermal has considerable potential to contribute to decarbonise heating and cooling, and effectively developing this resource will require acquiring geophysical data in a viable economic way to establish reliable subsurface models for exploration and continuous monitoring.