Preliminary results of continuous GPS monitoring of surface deformation at the Aquistore underground CO2 storage site

Aquistore is a demonstration project for the underground storage of CO2 at a depth of ~3350 m near Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada. An objective of the project is to design, adapt, and test non-seismic monitoring methods that have not been systematically utilized to date for monitoring CO2 storage projects, and to integrate the data from these various monitoring tools to obtain quantitative estimates of the change in subsurface fluid distributions, pressure changes and associated surface deformation. Monitoring methods being applied include satellite-, surface- and wellbore-based monitoring systems and comprise natural- and controlled-source electromagnetic methods, gravity monitoring, GPS, synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR), tiltmeter array analysis, and chemical tracer studies. Here we focus on the GPS monitoring of surface deformation. Five of the planned thirteen GPS monitoring stations were installed in November 2012 and results subsequently processed on a weekly basis. The first GPS results prior to CO2 injection have just been determined using both precise point positioning (PPP) and baseline processing with the Bernese GPS Software. The time series of the five sites are examined, compared and analysed with respect to monument stability, seasonal signals and estimates of expected regional ground motion. The individual weekly network solutions are combined together in a cumulative 4D network solution to provide a preliminary local velocity field in the immediately vicinity of the injection well. The results are compared to those from InSAR.