Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

We seek to advance the resolution and fidelity of the science of seismic imaging such that, with great precision, we may monitor fluids within hydrocarbon reservoirs and track injected gasses. With a focus on Canada's resource and sequestration environments, we will optimize recovery of Canada's finite resources and verify that sequestered greenhouse gasses remain in place. Like photography, seismic images are formed with waves. The seismic wavelength, however, is about a billion times longer than a light wavelength, so high-resolution ""photography"" of the subsurface is a significant challenge. An additional challenge to high resolution imaging is subsurface complexity. Though highly trained field crews record seismic data with sophisticated equipment, the complex earth between the crew and the target acts as an unknown and very complex lens. Seismic images, then, suffer from resolution limits due to the long seismic wavelength, and distortion due to the practical limitations of field recording, the imperfectly known earth lens, and imperfectly understood physics. To compensate for these effects, we process seismic data with image construction algorithms but this process is far from optimal. Consequently, we cannot reliably identify rock and fluid type or resolve reservoir detail. Our research program in seismic imaging systematically addresses seismic resolution, field acquisition limitations, the unknown lens of the Earth, and suboptimal image construction. We do this through a combination of controlled field experimentation, mathematical and physical modelling, and image algorithm development. We will deploy our research seismic crew to conduct experiments aimed at improving fidelity and completeness of the recorded wavefields and to better understand the physics of seismic wave propagation and attenuation. In parallel activity, we will conduct physical model experiments and also develop novel numerical modelling methods. These three sources of data will then drive our development of more robust imaging algorithms and associated techniques.