251: From Noise to Knowledge – Lessons in Geophysics and Innovation w/ Joe Dellinger

In this episode, host Andrew Geary highlights Sergey Fomel's Distinguished Lecturer tour, "Automating seismic data analysis and interpretation." Sergey and Andrew dive deep into automatic picking, why humans will always be essential to data analysis and interpretation, the value of this lecture for someone not familiar with programming, and one tip to help anyone succeed as a geophysicist. Note: Sergey's tour is currently canceled due to COVID-19 coronavirus concerns. In its place, Sergey is offering two, free virtual lectures. Please learn more and register at https://seg.org/podcast/Post/8979. BIOGRAPHY Sergey Fomel is Wallace E. Pratt Professor of Geophysics at The University of Texas at Austin and the director of the Texas Consortium for Computational Seismology (TCCS). At UT Austin, he is affiliated with the Bureau of Economic Geology, the Department of Geological Sciences, and the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences. Sergey received a Ph.D. in geophysics from Stanford University in 2001. For his contributions to exploration geophysics, he has been recognized with a number of professional awards, including SEG’s J. Clarence Karcher Award in 2001 and the EAGE Conrad Schlumberger Award in 2011. He has served SEG in different roles, most recently as the Vice President, Publications. Sergey also serves as the project manager for "Madagascar," an open-source software project for geophysical data analysis. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

31 Mars 202018min

In this episode, host Andrew Geary highlights David Lumley's article from The Leading Edge in March called "Geophysics and Sustainability." In this timely conversation, David and Andrew discuss the future of geophysics education, areas the SEG could develop to continue to support the science, how climate change might impact the industry, and David's proposal for a new name for SEG. Read David's article at https://library.seg.org/doi/10.1190/tle39030158.1. Visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/8963 for the complete show notes. BIOGRAPHY David Lumley is noted for his pioneering work in the area of 4D seismic monitoring. He is currently the Cecil and Ida Green Endowed Chair in Geophysics and the director of Seismic Imaging and Inversion Lab at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). His expertise is wave-theoretic Seismology, especially 3D imaging, 4D time-lapse monitoring, and Inversion estimation of physical properties in the earth. His research involves seismic wavefield data that are (continuously) recorded with 'Large N' sensor arrays, generated by seismic sources that are manmade, or natural (micro)earthquakes and ambient noise. Applications include subsurface energy resources and fluid flow, carbon sequestration, and natural/induced seismicity; at scales ranging from near-surface to reservoir, crust/mantle, and plate tectonics. A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Lumley received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geophysics and astronomy from the University of British Columbia, and his Ph.D. in geophysics from Stanford University. He currently serves on the SEG Board of Directors and received the J. Clarence Karcher Award in 1996. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney. If you enjoy the show, please share this podcast with a friend, colleague, or manager that would enjoy hearing this show. Your recommendation is the single, best action you can take on behalf of SEG's podcast.

12 Mars 202028min

In this episode, host Andrew Geary previews Dave Monk's upcoming Distinguished Instructor Short Course. His tour and accompanying book are called Survey Design and Seismic Acquisition for Land, Marine, and In-between in Light of New Technology and Techniques. In this engaging conversation, Dave and Andrew discuss why now is a great time to take an in-depth look at survey design, how full-waveform inversion impacts survey design, the research breakthroughs needed for the next evolution of seismic surveys, and one group that may not realize this course is exactly for them. Visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/8946 for the complete show notes. BIOGRAPHY Dave Monk holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Nottingham University in the UK and served as director of geophysics and as a distinguished advisor at Apache Corporation, until his retirement in October 2019. Monk started his career on seismic crews in Nigeria and has subsequently been involved in seismic processing and acquisition in most parts of the world. Throughout his career, he has retained an interest in developing innovative ways to acquire, process, and utilize seismic data to improve final interpretation. An author of over 100 technical papers and articles, as well as a number of patents, Monk has received Best Paper Awards from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (1992), the Canadian SEG (2002), and the Hagedoorn Award from the European Association of Exploration Geophysics (1994). Monk received Honorary Membership in the Geophysical Society of Houston in 2008 and Life Membership in the SEG in 2009. He served as president of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in 2012–2013. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

27 Feb 202013min

In this insider's look at reservoir characterization for The Leading Edge, host Andrew Geary speaks with Ali Tura, Professor of Geophysics and Director of the Reservoir Characterization Project at Colorado School of Mines. In this conversation, Ali and Andrew discuss the historical importance of this topic, how the techniques and case studies benefit the industry, why multi-disciplinary teams are essential in today's industry, advice for current and future geophysicists, plus a look at the papers that make up this special section. Visit https://seg.org/podcast for the complete show notes. Subscribers can read the full articles at https://library.seg.org/toc/leedff/39/2 and abstracts are always free. BIOGRAPHY Ali Tura is Professor of Geophysics and Director of Reservoir Characterization Project at Colorado School of Mines. His expertise is in the areas of seismic data processing, seismic analysis, time-lapse seismic, rock physics, fiber optic technology, and data analytics. He is also Chief Scientist at Tulip Geosciences, a geosciences consulting and training company. Prior to this, he was Geophysical Senior Fellow at ConocoPhillips. Ali was a founding member and COO of 4th Wave Imaging, a seismic R&D company. His other responsibilities have been leading time-lapse seismic reservoir monitoring at Chevron and Shell, and amplitude-preserving migration based AVO analysis at Elf (now Total). Ali received a B.Sc. degree from Istanbul University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, all in Engineering Geosciences. Ali is active within the SEG. He served as SEG Vice-president, Vice-chairman and Chairman of the SEG Global Affairs Committee, and Chairman of the SEG Research Committee. He has been a member and Chairman of the editorial board of The Leading Edge and Associate Editor of GEOPHYSICS. He has also been a board member of SEG Global Inc. and Co-chairman of OTC Technical Committee. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

13 Feb 202019min

In this episode, host Andrew Geary and Xinming Wu discuss the present and future on deep learning for seismic interpretation. Xinming and Andrew discuss how deep learning can improve training data sets, the importance of open software packages, the value of understanding seismic interpretation across the workflow, and what would happen if this topic reached its full potential. Visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/8847 for the complete show notes. BIOGRAPHY Xinming Wu serves as a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, where he started the Computational Interpretation Group. Xinming received an engineering degree (2009) in geophysics from Central South University, an M.Sc. (2012) in geophysics from Tongji University, and a Ph.D. (2016) in geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines where he was a member working with Dave Hale at the Center for Wave Phenomena. He received SEG awards for Best Paper in GEOPHYSICS with Dave Hale in 2016, Best Student Poster Paper with Sean Bader and Sergey Fomel in 2017, and an Honorable Mention for Best Paper presented at the 2018 SEG Annual Meeting with Sergey Fomel. He also received the Shanghai excellent master thesis award in 2013. Xinming writes a lot of software packages for his research on seismic structural and stratigraphic interpretation, deep learning (e.g., FaultSeg), subsurface modeling, joint seismic and well-log interpretation, and geophysical inversion with geologic constraints. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney. If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. Your reviews bring a smile to our faces.

30 Jan 202020min

In this insider's look at The Leading Edge, host Andrew Geary speaks with Laura Chiaramonte, Technical Leader in the Advanced Generation Sector Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Group at the Electric Power Research Institute. Andrew and Laura discuss TLE's January special section on carbon dioxide in the subsurface. In this engaging conversation, Laura and Andrew discuss the importance of this topic for applied geophysics, key takeaways from each paper, and what one mystery she hopes to solve as a geophysicist. Visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/8819 for the complete show notes. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

16 Jan 202020min

In this special episode, host Andrew Geary brings a longtime SEG member and scribe of the Interpreter Sam column - Don Herron - to the podcast to reflect on his 17 years writing for The Leading Edge. The December 2019 issue published the final Interpreter Sam column. In this back-and-forth conversation, Don shares the original idea for the column, the best feedback he received, the future of interpretation, what he's most proud of with Interpreter Sam, and so much more. This is a must-listen episode for all interpreters and geophysicists! For links to Don's favorite columns - including an interpreter's rendition of A Christmas Carol - visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/8769. IS DON HERRON, SAM? One question that didn't come up in our conversation is "am I, Don Herron, Sam?" Of course, I'm the author of the column, but is the Sam character me, and are the stories I told all based on my own first-hand experience? The answer is that a majority of the stories are my own, but sometimes I was a major character and other times an innocent bystander. Another question is, who is Sam's "good friend Jack" who figures in a number of the stories? Is he a real person or simply a literary construct? I'll leave that unanswered. - Don Herron BIOGRAPHY Don Herron has enjoyed a career as a seismic interpreter at Texaco (1973–1977), Gulf (1977–1984), and most recently Sohio/BP (1984–2008). At both Gulf and Sohio/BP, he taught in-house courses in seismic interpretation and was co-instructor for the SEG public course “Seismic Interpretation in the Exploration Domain” from 1995 to 2007. He was chairman of the SEG Continuing Education Committee (1998–2001) and a member of the Editorial Board of The Leading Edge (2002–2007, chairman in 2006–2007). He is an active member of SEG, AAPG, and Sigma Xi, and he always has taken the time to observe and write about the world around him. EDITOR'S NOTE Special thanks to all the individuals that provided questions and stories for this episode. I (Andrew Geary) had the privilege to work with Don on the EVOLVE Technical Committee in 2019 as a small part of his many roles at SEG, and it was a pleasure to speak with him on this major achievement built over a decade-plus. CREDITS Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

24 Dec 201922min

In this episode, host Andrew Geary previews Lisa Gavin's upcoming Honorary Lecturer tour in the Pacific South on seismic azimuthal anisotropy. Lisa and Andrew discuss the 3 main reasons it's important to be aware of seismic azimuthal anisotropy, why you should account for it in 4-D seismic interpretation, who this lecture is for, and what excites her about the future of this topic. Visit https://seg.org/podcast/Post/8762 for the complete show notes and links to her upcoming tour dates. BIOGRAPHY Lisa Gavin is a geophysicist with academic and industry experience in the oil and gas industry. She has worked as a geophysicist at Fugro Seismic Imaging, Chevron, and is currently at Woodside Energy in Perth, Australia. She has interests in seismic anisotropy, quantitative interpretation, 4D seismic, and rock physics and holds a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Western Australia. Credits Original music by Zach Bridges. This episode was hosted, edited, and produced by Andrew Geary. Thank you to the SEG podcast team: Jennifer Crockett, Ally McGinnis, and Mick Swiney.

19 Dec 201912min