High Resolution Downhole Resistivity Monitoring in Argentona (Catalunya, Spain) during the Gloria Storm (2020).
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High resolution downhole resistivity images have been recorded with the SMD monitoring device during the Gloria storm in January 2020 at the Argentona research site located about 20 km North of Barcelona. This research site is located 40 to 90 m from the seashore to study the Argentona coastal aquifer. It was developed by UPC (“Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya”) and CSIC (“Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas”) to compare the performance of different investigation methods and obtain new insights for the SWI and SGD scientific communities. Unlike most studies conducted elsewhere, Argentona offers a site little influenced by tides, which allows focusing on other physical driving forces on groundwater (waves, storms, groundwater table elevation, for example). The SMD is constituted with an array of m-scale downhole electrodes designed to be interrogated automatically every 4 hours in a dipole-dipole mode. It was installed down to 18 meters in bentonite, 70 m from the shore and calibrated in January 2017, penetrating through the fresh to salt water interface located at 15 m depth. Early downhole resistivity images show that the bentonite took a little more than two months to wash away, a process accelerated by rainfall to which this galvanic electrical resistivity device is particularly sensitive. A total of 5 months of downhole resistivity data recorded with the SMD are presented, from December 2019 to April 2020, equating to a series of about 900 downhole resistivity records. The Gloria storm brought heavy rainfall, high winds and coastal flooding from January 19 to 21. The SMD, both from electrical resistivity and in a differential mode, shows in great details the impact of the storm on the fresh groundwater column, as well as that of sea water sprays in the top 4 m. Several other rainfall events of lesser magnitude also show the same downhole patterns.
