Assessment of spatial monitoring of geological carbon storage using InSAR

We evaluate and assess an (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) InSAR-based surveillance approach for Geological Carbon Storage (GCS) to demonstrate the potential use of satellite images to monitor a project in Kern County, California. The scope includes identification of appropriate subsurface and surface conditions for success, and presentation of the recoverable information from InSAR. This field case is found to be an ideal candidate due to its surface condition, with little vegetation and stable baseline measurements. Numerical simulation predicts that the land uplift rates during the GCS project range from 3.52 to 24.10 mm/y due to carbon dioxide injection considering geomechanical uncertainties. The net surface displacement ranges from 3.27 to 31.85 mm. The spatial and vertical resolution of the observational data fulfills requirements for monitoring of GCS projects. We conduct a sensitivity study to identify the impactful factors for land surface deformation. The challenges of the complex response dataset motivate extension of the capability of a distance-based generalized sensitivity analysis method, using principal component analysis and autoencoders to extract essential features and reduce data dimensionality. In general, the satellite images recover information regarding rock mechanics and field operation parameters. Complex, time-series satellite images allow us to infer a more complete set of parameters; however, the magnitude of land movement recovers limited information, that includes storage formation Young's modulus and injection rate. An InSAR-based monitoring approach is promising for this field case due to the large detectability area of net surface displacement in the land surface focus region.