Capabilities and limitations of tracing spatial temperature patterns by fiber‐optic distributed temperature sensing

Increasing numbers in interdisciplinary applications of Fiber-optic DistributedTemperature Sensing (FO-DTS) call for a quantitative assessment of the limitations anduncertainties of this new technology. This study conducts controlled laboratory experimentsto analyze the qualitative (signal size and location) and quantitative (signal intensity)accuracies of FO-DTS surveys of temperature signals higher and lower than ambienttemperature, ranging from well above to critically below the FO-DTS sampling interval.Our results reveal that qualitative and quantitative accuracies of FO-DTS measuredtemperatures critically decline with decreasing signal size, in particular for signals near thespatial sampling interval. Decreasing detection accuracy risks the masking of realtemperature variation in highly dynamic systems. The resulting potential ambiguity ofinterpretations of signal size, intensity, and absolute location will have to be considered infuture experimental design and interpretation of FO-DTS surveys. Raw project data is available by contacting [e-mail]随着光纤分布式温度传感（Fiber-optic Distributed Temperature Sensing, FO-DTS）跨学科应用的不断增多，亟需对这项新兴技术的局限性与不确定性开展定量评估。本研究通过控制变量实验室实验，针对相较于环境温度存在高低偏差、且信号跨度覆盖远高于至极接近该传感系统采样间隔的温度信号，分析其测量的定性（信号空间尺度与位置）与定量（信号强度）精度。研究结果显示，光纤分布式温度传感测得温度的定性与定量精度会随信号空间尺度的减小而显著下降，尤其当信号空间尺度接近采样间隔时，精度衰减更为明显。检测精度的下降可能会掩盖高动态系统中的真实温度变化。由此可能引发的信号空间尺度、强度及绝对位置解读歧义，需在未来光纤分布式温度传感测量的实验设计与数据解读环节中予以充分考量。本项目原始数据可通过联系[e-mail]获取。