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'sresource and sequestration environments, we will optimize recovery of Canada's finite resources and verify thatsequestered greenhouse gasses remain in place.Like photography, seismic images are formed with waves. The seismic wavelength, however, is about abillion times longer than a light wavelength, so high-resolution ""photography"" of the subsurface is a significantchallenge. An additional challenge to high resolution imaging is subsurface complexity. Though highlytrained field crews record seismic data with sophisticated equipment, the complex earth between the crew andthe target acts as an unknown and very complex lens. Seismic images, then, suffer from resolution limits dueto the long seismic wavelength, and distortion due to the practical limitations of field recording, the imperfectlyknown earth lens, and imperfectly understood physics. To compensate for these effects, we process seismicdata with image construction algorithms but this process is far from optimal. Consequently, we cannot reliablyidentify rock and fluid type or resolve reservoir detail.Our research program in seismic imaging systematically addresses seismic resolution, field acquisitionlimitations, the unknown lens of the Earth, and suboptimal image construction. We do this through acombination of controlled field experimentation, mathematical and physical modelling, and image algorithmdevelopment. We will deploy our research seismic crew to conduct experiments aimed at improving fidelityand completeness of the recorded wavefields and to better understand the physics of seismic wave propagationand attenuation. In parallel activity, we will conduct physical model experiments and also develop novelnumerical modelling methods. These three sources of data will then drive our development of more robustimaging algorithms and associated techniques.