Geological storage of CO2: The marine component. Impact on sediments, seawater and marine biota from leaks. A litterature review

Abstract

The report gives an overview of the current knowledge about what impacts CO2 leaking from future sub-seabed storage sites may cause to the marine environment. Only a couple of such sites exist today, and no apparent leaks have been detected there. So experience must be gained from other sites where CO2 is emitted naturally from the seabed into the sea, from natural analogues on land, or from experimental work. After learning more about the behaviour and reaction of certain organisms to high-CO2 exposures, monitoring tools and procedures can be established in order to get an early warning of leaks. This may be combined with monitoring techniques for the physical and chemical characteristics of sediments and the seawater above.