Distributed acoustic sensors for monitoring microseismicity and CO2 storage in partnership with Silixa

This project involves a rapidly growing technology that uses fibre optic cables as distributed
sensors, which in essence act as a continual array of geophones or seismometers. These
novel sensors have a wide range of applications, are low cost, can operate in harsh
environments (high and low temperatures), and are relatively cheap and easy to operate.
The project partner, Silixa, has pioneered such technology with their iDASTM system.
Distributed acoustic sensors (DAS) have been used successfully by Silixa in recording
vertical seismic profiles or VSPs (borehole recordings of controlled-source surface seismic
energy). In the proposed project, seismic data recorded using such sensors at a site of CO2
storage in a geologic reservoir will be used to assess the behaviour and mechanical integrity
of the storage site. A specific aim of the project involves the development of DAS
technology to detect microseismic events. The student will learn how DAS data are
processed using interferometric methods, before addressing specific challenges of locating
seismic events and calculating their magnitudes.