Preparing for CO2 storage in the Arctic – Assessing background seismic activity and noise characteristics at the CO2 Lab site, Svalbard

• Published in: Energy Procedia
• Main Authors: Kühn, D., Oye, V., Albaric, J., Harris, D., Hillers, G., Braathen, A., Olaussen, S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Arctic; Svalbard; Longyearbyen
• Online Access: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_2949899; https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_2949899_2/component/file_2949920/2949899.pdf

Due to its remoteness, the CO2 Lab close to the town of Longyearbyen on Svalbard presents a unique opportunity to demonstrate the entire CO2 value chain based on its closed energy system. The formation considered as potential CO2 storage unit consists of mixed sandstone and shale beds, presenting itself as a fractured, low-permeability reservoir. A geophone network surrounding the injection well has been installed to locate microseismic events during injection tests and to estimate background seismicity. During the first water injection in 2010, a microseismic event (M ∼ 1) was recorded and located close to the injection well, followed by a series of aftershocks. Later injection tests did not generate any detectable microseismic events; nevertheless, pressure and flow rate showed a pattern characteristic for fracture opening potentially indicating “aseismic” fracture propagation. Records of ambient seismic noise are analysed by a cross-correlation method in order to reconstruct the impulse functions between sensors. The daily cross-correlations are dominated by tube wave signals originating from the bottom of the well showing a sudden increase of activity. We also demonstrate a noise cancellation method exhibiting great potential towards cancellation of electromagnetic and cultural noise. Albeit several difficulties that were approached at the CO2 Lab, new knowledge and guidelines for best practice containment monitoring using seismic methods in the Arctic could be developed.