Ground deformation at the Aquistore CO2 storage site in Saskatchewan (Canada) measured by RADARSAT-2 DInSAR

The research objectives of the Aquistore CO₂ storage project are to design, adapt, and test non-seismic monitoring methods for measurement, and verification of CO₂ storage, and to integrate data to determine subsurface fluid distributions, pressure changes and associated surface deformation. The test area is located west of the Boundary Dam Power Station in southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. The targeted CO₂ injection zones are within the Winnipeg and Deadwood formations located at > 3000 m depth. An array of monitoring technique has been employed in the study area including advanced satellite Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) technique as Multidimensional Small Baseline Subset (MSBAS), GPS, tiltmeters and piezometers. DInSAR-MSBAS results were calculated based on over one hundred RADARSAT-2 images from five different beams obtained during 20120612-20140209. DInSAR-MSBAS results indicate slow ground deformation up to 1 cm/year not related to CO₂ injection but caused by different natural and anthropogenic causes.