RPS Group were awarded a contract by CO2CRC (Geoscience Australia) to carry out a Aerial LiDAR survey over the Nirranda South region of the Victorian Coast. The data will be used for the CO2CRC Otway project which will demonstrate that carbon capture and storage is a technically and environmentally safe way to reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.

Geoscience Australia and the CO2CRC have constructed a greenhouse gas controlled release facility at an experimental agricultural station maintained by CSIRO Plant Industry at Ginninderra, Canberra. The facility is designed to simulate surface emissions of CO2 from the soil into the atmosphere and is modelled on the ZERT controlled release facility in Montana. Injection of CO2 into the soil is via a 120 m long slotted HDPE pipe installed horizontally 2 m underground. An eddy covariance (EC) system was installed at Ginninderra during the first sub-surface release (March - June 2012). The EC system, which generated 15 minute averages using a 10 Hz sampling frequency, measured net radiation (as a function of upwelling and downwelling, solar and longwave radiation); wind speed and direction in 3 dimensions; CO2 and H2O concentration; and temperature and pressure. The EC system was installed to provide baseline atmospheric measurements and assess methods for quantifying CO2 leakages. The daily CO2 release rate was 100 kg/d. Here we report on the application of the CO2 emissions quantification method developed by Pan et al. (2010) for detecting and quantifying CO2 leakages using EC techniques. The approach seeks to isolate the CO2 leakage signal from the natural variation inherent in flux data, using a time-window splitting scheme, median filtering and scaling techniques. Results from application of the EC method at the Ginninderra site will be presented and modifications to the method and its limitations discussed. Pan, L.; Lewicki, J.L.; Oldenburg C.M.; and Fischer M.L., (2010). Time-window based filtering method for near-surface detection of leakage from geological carbon sequestration sites, Environmental Earth Sciences, 60, pp 359-369. Proceedings of the 2013 International Carbon Dioxide Conference - Beijing China

Brumbys 1 was an appraisal well drilled and cored through Brumbys Fault at the CO2CRC Otway International Test Centre in 2018. The Otway Project is located in South West Victoria, on private farming property approximately 35 km southeast of Warrnambool and approximately 10 km northwest of the town of Peterborough. Total measured depth was 126.6 m (80 degrees). Sonic drilling enabled excellent core recovery and the borehole was completed as a groundwater monitoring well. Brumbys 1 cores through the upper Hesse Clay, Port Campbell Limestone and extends into the Gellibrand Marl. This dataset compiles the extensive analysis undertaken on the core. Analysis includes: Core log; Foram Analysis; Paleodepth; % Carbonate (CaCO3); X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF); Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS); X-Ray Diffraction (XRD); Grain Size; Density; Surface Area Analysis (SAA); Gamma. Samples were taken at approximately 1-2 m intervals.