The Urban Geo-Observatory in Cardiff is run by BGS and UKRI-NERC, with in-kind support from the City of Cardiff Council. The 61 boreholes were donated by Cardiff Harbour Authority, a department of Cardiff Council.

Cardiff Urban
Geo-Observatory

In Cardiff, we're improving our understanding of the way groundwater moves around in a complex geological environment changed by industrialisation and urban growth. The Cardiff Urban Geo-Observatory is looking at shallow geothermal heat recovery and storage.

Location

Why was Cardiff chosen?

Cardiff is a coastal city and has a pre-installed network of boreholes, managed by Cardiff Harbour Authority, to assess the impacts of the Cardiff Bay Barrage scheme. In partnership with the City of Cardiff Council, of which the Cardiff Harbour Authority is a department, we were able to repurpose these boreholes by instrumenting them with temperature sensors. By utilising the existing network of boreholes in this way, we were able to reduce costs significantly and add value to an existing monitoring network.

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How will the data be used?

Small sensors in the boreholes are building up a picture of the groundwater temperatures in the aquifers below the city. This data can tell developers, regulators and policymakers more about the development of sustainable, low-carbon heating and cooling solutions. There'll be other uses too. All the data is available .

The data on groundwater movement and temperature will help to understand whether extracting shallow geothermal heat is safe and sustainable.

Gareth Farr
BGS Cardiff office

Knowledge from Cardiff
for the whole of the UK

What we learn from the network in Cardiff will be useful for towns and cities across the whole of the UK and beyond. We are already sharing data with 14 other European cities through the GeoEra MUSE project . The Cardiff boreholes were not designed or delivered through the £31 million UK Geoenergy Observatories capital funding investment, however, access to the data forms part of the UK Geoenergy Observatories offering.

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Use UKGEOS facilities for your research

Cardiff observatory data

Available Datasets

Cardiff sensor data

Sensor data for groundwater temperatures in the aquifers below the city

Detailed scientific information about the Cardiff Urban Geo-Observatory

Publications

Research papers and reports about Cardiff Observatory

Map of the boreholes

Use the map to see the borehole locations of the Cardiff Urban Geo-Observatory.

The potential of shallow geothermal energy in action at a Cardiff school

BGS has installed boreholes and heat pumps at Grangetown Nursery School in Cardiff to test the potential of heating the school using the geothermal energy within the shallow groundwater. Watch the films featuring BGS engineering geologist Ashley Patton to find out more about the scheme.