References

Elasticsearch is used for textual search (metadata and content descriptions) of then the ARD Television Archive (FESAD). All national broadcasters are connected to the system, which is developed by Hessischer Rundfunk (hr).

The newly endorsed EC directive (2009/31/EC) on geological storage of CO₂, as well as recommendations from OSPAR and London Conventions, require that permission to store CO₂ would be based upon a full characterisation of the storage domain, including the reservoir, the underburden and the natural environment over the geological storage formation. Fulfilment of Article 13 of the EC directive (monitoring) requires the establishment of a framework for future “detection of leakage” and “detection of significant adverse effects for the surrounding environment, human health, or users of the surrounding biosphere”. As part of any CO₂ storage projects government and international regulations will therefore require risk and environmental status assessments in order to sustain future monitoring programs, as well as describe protocols for leakage detection and remediation efforts. In the case of sub-seabed storage in geological formations these assessments will have to include potential impact on the marine environment and the seafloor, and will have to outline a subsequent monitoring program.

Detection and environmental impact assessment of an unlikely future leakage event require a solid baseline to which one would be able to compare changes in the marine environment surrounding the storage site.  Even if environmental baseline acquisition offshore related to, e.g.,. oil and gas exploitation, is a mature activity, baseline acquisition and environmental characterisation of potential offshore CO2 storage sites is a new task:

It is essential to understand the underlying natural environmental conditions at each specific storage site, based on key environmental parameters (chemical, physical and biological), their seasonal variations, and long-term trends due to other anthropogenic and natural factors (e.g. rising seawater temperature and marine acidification from increased atmospheric CO₂ concentrations). In support of this it is necessary to collect a time series of key environmental parameters during the initial site characterisation (CO₂-Base) and continue these observations throughout the initial monitoring period (CO₂-Monitor). These data will be necessary to determine whether statistical significant anomalies in the monitoring data are due to CO2 leakage or are simply part of the natural or climate change induced variability inherent in marine ecosystems.