The aim of the project is to develop the knowledge base necessary for both storage site operators and regulators to assess the potential impacts on near surface ecosystems - both in terrestrial and marine environments – in the unlikely event that there are significant leaks from a storage system. Quintessa is playing a leading role in the following work packages:

• WP1: Reference Environments and Scenarios:  A number of reference receptor environments and associated credible impact scenarios are being defined that can form the basis of quantitative regulations.   Quintessa organised and facilitated a workshop for this work package in May 2010 at which 14 European organisations were represented; it is anticipated that the results from this work will be reported in early 2011.  It is likely that the information obtained in this work will lead to updates to the generic database of Features, Events and Processes (FEPs) developed and maintained by Quintessa.
• WP4.1: Quantitative Assessments of Impacts: Quintessa is developing a terrestrial systems model capable of representing all of the environments and scenarios developed in WP1, based on experience gained in previous studies for the Latera site in Italy where there are high natural fluxes of carbon dioxide to the surface.  The model will also be used to help build a quantitative understanding of the results obtained from experimental work on the effects of elevated levels of carbon dioxide on crops that is being undertaken in the RISCS project at sites in the UK and Norway. The modelling is being undertaken with Quintessa’s general purpose modelling code, QPAC.