Subsidence; Monitoring and Modeling the Groningen Subsurface based on Integrated Geodesy and Geophysics: improving the space-time dimension

[C24A08]

Subsidence is an inconvenient consequence of exploitation of the subsurface. By the same token, it is one of the most important sources of information to understand subsurface behaviour. In this research project we jointly use InSAR observations and process-driven models for the deep and shallow subsurface to improve the accuracy of geodetic subsidence estimates and to better constrain the model parameters. The relevance of improving model parameters is that they control physical processes in the subsurface, e.g., rates of reservoir stress relaxation and fault creep, hence establishing an observationally constrained basis for forecasting hazards from various gas production scenarios. Similarly, model parameters of processes in the shallow subsurface are relevant since they are the main driver for strain on buildings and infrastructure. Data assimilation integrates the geodetic and geophysical observations and models. This way, subsidence is not only an undesired consequence of subsurface exploitation, but also an important source of information to understand it.