CO2 Injection Deformation Monitoring Based on UAV and InSAR Technology: A Case Study of Shizhuang Town, Shanxi Province, China

Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, also referred to as Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS), is one of the novel climate mitigation technologies by which CO2 emissions are captured from sources, such as fossil power generation and industrial processes, and further either reused or stored with more attention being paid on the utilization of captured CO2. In the whole CCUS process, the dominant migration pathway of CO2 after being injected underground becomes very important information to judge the possible storage status as well as one of the essential references for evaluating possible environmental affects. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technology, with its advantages of extensive coverage in surface deformation monitoring and all-weather traceability of the injection processes, has become one of the promising technologies frequently adopted in worldwide CCUS projects. In this study, taking the CCUS sequestration area in Shizhuang Town, Shanxi Province, China, as an example, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photography measurement technology with a 3D surface model at a resolution of 5.3 cm was applied to extract the high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of the study site in coordination with InSAR technology to more clearly display the results of surface deformation monitoring of the CO2 injection area. A 2 km surface heaving dynamic processes before and after injection from June 2020 to July 2021 was obtained, and a CO2 migration pathway northeastward was observed, which was rather consistent with the monitoring results by logging and micro-seismic studies. Additionally, an integrated monitoring scheme, which will be the trend of monitoring in the future, is proposed in the discussion.