The Partnership's GIS activities involve three core elements:
All three core elements span scientific disciplines to support research and outreach efforts for terrestrial projects, geologic research, and even economic modeling. |
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In Phase I of the Partnership, GIS efforts included completion of a preliminary geologic sequestration capacities assessment, a regional greenhouse gas emissions inventory, and agricultural carbon flux modeling. The base physical architecture of the cyberinfrastructure was also established, along with initial regional datasets and maps, an early interactive map, and links to NATCARB.
Phase II saw an emphasis on regional-level data staging (collection, creation, and QA/QC), metadata documentation, expanded cartographic production in support of Partnership outreach and education efforts, and upgrades to the database management approach. The GIS team worked with neighboring Partnerships and NATCARB to resolve data issues, including preparation of a revised methodology for the estimation of point source CO2 emissions, and contributed to several editions of a national-level Carbon Atlas. The latest release of NETL's 2010 Carbon Sequestration Atlas of the United States and Canada includes updated point source CO2 emissions information and completed estimates of storage capacities. Lastly, two mapping applications were hosted online, the Carbon and Mafic Interactive Atlases.
Last summer, BSCSP began work on Phase III of the project. GIS activities to date have focused on site-level project characterization for permitting and subsurface geologic modeling. The Carbon Atlas, in addition to hosting distributed data and GIS services for use by the Partnership’s technical teams, will enhance Phase III education and outreach efforts and provide decision support to stakeholders through expanded cartographic products and interactive mapping. Midway through Phase III, the Data Libraries will be enhanced to inform both operational and post-injection monitoring and modeling.