Offshore Carbon Storage Monitoring Using Satellite-Based Remote Sensing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22818825Keywords:
offshore carbon capture and storage, CO2 storage monitoring, InSAR, Sentinel-1, satellite remote sensing, Sleipner, Snohvit, monitoring, reporting and verification, sub-seabed CO2 leakageAbstract
Offshore geologic carbon storage presents a monitoring challenge distinct from onshore analogues, because
seawater prevents interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) from directly imaging seafloor deformation, the
primary satellite geodetic signal exploited at onshore carbon capture and storage sites such as In Salah. We
evaluated the practical contribution of satellite Earth observation to monitoring, reporting and verification at two
North Sea and Barents Sea offshore storage sites, Sleipner and Snohvit, combining three approaches: Sentinel-1
and RADARSAT-2 synthetic aperture radar ocean-surface roughness anomaly detection, calibrated against the
2012 QICS controlled sub-seabed CO2 release experiment; Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 ocean-colour anomaly
screening as a negative control; and a nine-year (2015-2023) Sentinel-1 interferometric time series over the
onshore Melkoya processing terminal linked to Snohvit's subsea wells, used as an indirect infrastructure-stability
proxy. Radar anomalies consistent with the QICS release plume were detected in 67% of overpasses when sea
state was Beaufort 3 or below and simulated flux exceeded approximately 250 kilograms CO2 per day, but
detection fell to 15% or lower at higher sea states regardless of flux. Ocean-colour imagery produced no reliable
CO2-specific detection signal at either operational site, confirming its unsuitability as a standalone leak indicator.
Melkoya InSAR time series showed vertical displacement below 2 millimetres per year throughout, consistent with
independently reported reservoir pressure stability. These results indicate that satellite remote sensing can provide
a genuinely useful, low-cost, sea-state-limited early-warning layer for surface expressions of offshore CO2 leakage,
but cannot substitute for seafloor-based geodetic and geochemical monitoring of subsurface plume migration and
caprock integrity; we recommend an integrated architecture combining satellite screening with periodic seafloor
instrumentation and seismic surveys.
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