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At least 55 records · Page 3

A general approach to seismic inversion with automatic differentiation

Imaging Earth structure or seismic sources from seismic data involves minimizing a target misfit function, and is commonly solved through gradient-based optimization. The adjoint-state method has been developed to compute the gradient efficiently; however, its implementation can be time-consuming and difficult. We develop a general seismic inversion framework to calculate gradients using reverse-mode automatic differentiation. The central idea is that adjoint-state methods and reverse-mode automatic differentiation are mathematically equivalent. Here, the mapping between numerical PDE simulation and deep learning allows us to build a seismic inverse modeling library, ADSeismic, based on deep learning frameworks, which supports high performance reverse-mode automatic differentiation on CPUs and GPUs. We demonstrate the performance of ADSeismic on inverse problems related to velocity model estimation, rupture imaging, earthquake location, and source time function retrieval. ADSeismic has the potential to solve a wide variety of inverse modeling applications within a unified framework.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

A seismic data compression system using subband coding

This article presents a study of seismic data compression techniques and a compression algorithm based on subband coding. The algorithm includes three stages: a decorrelation stage, a quantization stage that introduces a controlled amount of distortion to allow for high compression ratios, and a lossless entropy coding stage based on a simple but efficient arithmetic coding method. Subband coding methods are particularly suited to the decorrelation of nonstationary processes such as seismic events. Adaptivity to the nonstationary behavior of the waveform is achieved by dividing the data into separate blocks that are encoded separately with an adaptive arithmetic encoder. This is done with high efficiency due to the low overhead introduced by the arithmetic encoder in specifying its parameters. The technique could be used as a progressive transmission system, where successive refinements of the data can be requested by the user. This allows seismologists to first examine a coarse version of waveforms with minimal usage of the channel and then decide where refinements are required. Rate-distortion performance results are presented and comparisons are made with two block transform methods.

Kiely, A. B.↗

Solving Seismic Wave Equations on Variable Velocity Models With Fourier Neural Operator

Here, in the study of subsurface seismic imaging, solving the acoustic wave equation is a pivotal component in existing models. The advancement of deep learning (DL) enables solving partial differential equations (PDEs), including wave equations, by applying neural networks to identify the mapping between the inputs and the solution. This approach can be faster than traditional numerical methods when numerous instances are to be solved. Previous works that concentrate on solving the wave equation by neural networks consider either a single velocity model or multiple simple velocity models, which is restricted in practice. Instead, inspired by the idea of operator learning, this work leverages the Fourier neural operator (FNO) to effectively learn the frequency domain seismic wavefields under the context of variable velocity models. We also propose a new framework paralleled FNO (PFNO) for efficiently training the FNO-based solver given multiple source locations and frequencies. Numerical experiments demonstrate the high accuracy of both FNO and PFNO with complicated velocity models in the OpenFWI datasets. Furthermore, the cross-dataset generalization test verifies that PFNO adapts to out-of-distribution velocity models. Finally, PFNO admits higher computational efficiency on large-scale testing datasets than the traditional finite-difference method. The aforementioned advantages endow the FNO-based solver with the potential to build powerful models for research on seismic waves.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Subtask 1.5 – CO2 Injection Monitoring with an Optimized Scalable, Automated, Semipermanent Seismic Array

The scalable, automated, semipermanent seismic array (SASSA) method is a flexible and relatively cost-effective surface geophysical method for regular time-lapse monitoring of the movement of injected carbon dioxide (CO2) in a reservoir for CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or geologic CO2 storage operations. It has the advantages of a low-environmental-footprint while monitoring regions of a reservoir from the surface without the need for a regular grid distribution of receivers. Automated data collection is possible. As only time-lapse amplitude changes at the reservoir level due to CO2 movement within the reservoir are monitored, the turnaround time to deliver results from the SASSA method can be short, without the need for long, time-consuming data-processing workflows. As data is collected and processed, incremental information can be provided to the field operator. The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) conducted a SASSA field test from September 2018 to November 2020 in a portion of the Bell Creek Field in Montana, which implemented new CO2 EOR field activities during the study period. Lessons learned from a proof-of-concept study were incorporated to improve the data quality of the SASSA method and demonstrate the viability of the technology. The EERC implemented several enhancements to improve data quality, including 1) an iterative survey design, which allowed placing the receivers in strategic locations where the movement of the CO2 in the reservoir could be tracked with minimum interference by the cultural noise in the study area; 2) the use of powerful seismic sources in the form of surface orbital vibrators, and 3) data acquisition during optimal periods. History-matched reservoir simulation was performed to predict gas saturation and pressure response induced by CO2 injection in the study area. The results were compared with the SASSA-measured responses to CO2 injection as a partial validation technique. A match between the two methods was observed for most of the SASSA points predicted to have intersected a CO2 saturation change. The validated results provide confidence that the SASSA method can be used independently as a CO2 saturation monitoring technique. As data are collected and processed, incremental information can be provided to the field operator. The critical components of the SASSA workflow for a successful application of the method are the following: Iterative survey design with information about CO2 injection activities from the oilfield operator. A detailed CO2 injection plan is the key driver to select the strategic monitoring location of the SASSA sensors. After this information is incorporated in the initial distribution of sources and receivers in the study area, high-resolution satellite images are used to identify ground locations not affected by cultural noise sources, such as power lines, pipelines/flow lines, or roadways. In the next iteration of the survey design, a scouting trip to the study area is needed to understand more details of the noise sources identified in the previous step and the intensity of the field activities that can also generate noise during the monitoring. Integrating the information from the scouting trip into the survey design to select the optimum source and receiver locations is the final step. Noise attenuation. The variety of noise types during seismic monitoring of an oil field is enormous. Tailored noise characterization and processing at a node-by-node level can enhance the performance and sensitivity of the SASSA technique. Future advancements that could improve the efficiency and application of the SASSA technology include: Gaining a better understanding of the noise field produced by the seismic source to aid the choice of receiver location. Surface noise from the source can overwhelm the small signal changes due to CO2 that the SASSA method measures. Improved data-processing workflow to automatically analyze and adapt to dynamic noise conditions associated with industrial settings. This subtask was funded through the EERC–DOE Joint Program on Research and Development for Fossil Energy-Related Resources Cooperative Agreement No. DE- FE0024233.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Seismic monitoring of EGS fracture stimulations at Utah FORGE (Part 1): Time-lapse variations of b-values and Shear-wave Splitting Rates of induced microearthquakes

Characterizing geologic formations near geothermal wells is crucial for efficient extraction of subsurface geothermal energy resources. To monitor effective fracture stimulation of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), we analyze a catalog of induced microearthquakes to characterize seismicity induced by Phase 2C fracture stimulations of the Utah FORGE project and derive the b-values for 424 induced microearthquakes in three stages of fracture stimulation. Here, we find the time-lapse variations of these b-values. We apply eigenvector rotation and waveform correlation to 3C geophone data to separate fast S 1 and slow S 2 waves, determine their directions, measure their lag time, and calculate the S-wave splitting rate (SSR) for six induced microearthquakes in Stage 1 and 21 in Stage 3. Both SSR values and b-values increase with time. The increase in these values may be related to heavily fractured zones created by fracture stimulations during Stage 2 injections. Large and highly variable SSR values in Stage 3 may reflect heterogeneities in the fracture zones. Time-lapse variations of SSR values and b-values may be one of the most useful approaches to monitoring and characterizing the effectiveness and efficiency of various types of fracture stimulations.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Evaluation of Seismic Artificial Intelligence with Uncertainty

Artificial intelligence has transformed the seismic community with deep learning models (DLMs) that are trained to complete specific tasks within workflows. However, there is still a lack of robust evaluation frameworks for evaluating and comparing DLMs. Here, we address this gap by designing an evaluation framework that jointly incorporates two crucial aspects: performance uncertainty and learning efficiency. To target these aspects, we meticulously construct the training, validation, and test splits using a clustering method tailored to seismic data and enact an expansive training design to segregate performance uncertainty arising from stochastic training processes and random data sampling. The framework’s ability to guard against misleading declarations of model superiority is demonstrated through the evaluation of PhaseNet (Zhu and Beroza, 2018), a popular seismic phase picking DLM, under three training approaches. Our framework helps practitioners choose the best model for their problem and set performance expectations by explicitly analyzing model performance with uncertainty at varying budgets of training data.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Pre-conditioned BFGS-based uncertainty quantification in elastic full-waveform inversion

SUMMARY Full-waveform inversion has become an essential technique for mapping geophysical subsurface structures. However, proper uncertainty quantification is often lacking in current applications. In theory, uncertainty quantification is related to the inverse Hessian (or the posterior covariance matrix). Even for common geophysical inverse problems its calculation is beyond the computational and storage capacities of the largest high-performance computing systems. In this study, we amend the Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (BFGS) algorithm to perform uncertainty quantification for large-scale applications. For seismic inverse problems, the limited-memory BFGS (L-BFGS) method prevails as the most efficient quasi-Newton method. We aim to augment it further to obtain an approximate inverse Hessian for uncertainty quantification in FWI. To facilitate retrieval of the inverse Hessian, we combine BFGS (essentially a full-history L-BFGS) with randomized singular value decomposition to determine a low-rank approximation of the inverse Hessian. Setting the rank number equal to the number of iterations makes this solution efficient and memory-affordable even for large-scale problems. Furthermore, based on the Gauss–Newton method, we formulate different initial, diagonal Hessian matrices as pre-conditioners for the inverse scheme and compare their performances in elastic FWI applications. We highlight our approach with the elastic Marmousi benchmark model, demonstrating the applicability of pre-conditioned BFGS for large-scale FWI and uncertainty quantification.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

The First Detection of an Earthquake From a Balloon Using Its Acoustic Signature

Extreme temperature and pressure conditions on the surface of Venus present formidable technological challenges against performing ground-based seismology. Efficient coupling between the Venusian atmosphere and the solid planet theoretically allows the study of seismically generated acoustic waves using balloons in the upper atmosphere, where conditions are far more clement. However, earthquake detection from a balloon has never been demonstrated. We present the first detection of an earthquake from a balloon-borne microbarometer near Ridgecrest, CA in July 2019 and include a detailed analysis of the dependence of seismic infrasound, as measured from a balloon on earthquake source parameters, topography, and crustal and atmospheric structure. Our comprehensive analysis of seismo-acoustic phenomenology demonstrates that seismic activity is detectable from a high-altitude platform on Earth, and that Rayleigh wave-induced infrasound can be used to constrain subsurface velocities, paving the way for the detection and characterization of such signals on Venus.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Seismic Resilience of Large Power Transformer Bushings & Non-SF6 Industrial Base Scan Review

Large (high voltage) power transformers (LPT), and more specifically, their bushings, are known to be susceptible to seismic failure. With bushing failure, a transformer will have to be replaced, which has a considerable lead time, adding to the power outage duration. Cost-efficient, proven solutions are not currently available to mitigate this risk, which can persist for the more than 30-year life of a particular transformer. This work will focus on developing and demonstrating a hardware solution to address seismic vulnerabilities and reduce outage risks from LPT failure. Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) is a specialty gas with excellent electrical insulation properties which has been used extensively in the power industry. This gas is unfortunately also one of the most potent greenhouse gases known to humanity. A 2014 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that SF6 has a global warming potential (GWP) 23,000 times higher than Carbon Dioxide, and has the highest GWP of all gases assessed (Myhre 2013). SF6 is almost exclusively man-made and is produced for use as an insulator in high voltage electrical equipment. This makes the production and use of SF6 one of the leading sources of anthropogenic climate change. To fully eliminate the environmental impacts of SF6, alternative technology is needed. The ideal replacement would be a technology that can fulfil the same role as SF6, at the same cost or cheaper, but without adverse environmental effects. Currently, no technology fits this description, however several promising technologies have begun to enter the market. An industry scan was performed to assess the state of industry adoption and manufacturing capability for SF6-free alternative technologies for use at the high-voltage level, and the primary barriers to broader adoption.

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗

Enhancement of disposal efficiency for deep geological repositories based on three design factors - Decay heat optimization, increased thermal limit of the buffer and double-layer concept

This study investigates the enhancement of disposal efficiency for deep geological repositories (DGRs) based on three design factors: decay heat optimization, increased thermal limit of the buffer, and double-layer concept using coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) numerical simulations. Decay heat optimization is achieved by iteratively emplacing spent nuclear fuels having the maximum and minimum decay heat in a canister. Disposal areas can be reduced by 20 % to 40 % compared to the current reference disposal system in Korea (KRS+) in accordance with the combinations of the three design factors, alleviating challenges in site selection for the DGR. This study additionally identifies an optimal layer spacing of 500 m for the double-layer concept in the viewpoint of the buffer temperature, where thermal interaction between the upper and lower layers nearly disappears. However, determining the ultimate disposal and layer spacing requires engineering judgement, considering not only the thermal performance of the DGR but also various factors such as cost and difficulties of the construction and rock mass stability. DGRs designed with an increased thermal limit of the buffer poses a greater probability of rock mass failure around disposal tunnels and deposition holes due to elevated thermal stresses. Densely arranged heat sources for the DGRs with enhanced disposal efficiency lead to larger temperature increase even at the far-field scale, raising a possibility of thermally driven fracture shear activation with associated hydraulic, mechanical, and seismic changes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Introduction to Special Section: Machine Learning for Image-based Geologic Interpretation

Image-based geological interpretation has been a labor-intensive and time-consuming process because it requires well-trained geoscientists to identify geological structures, features, and textures from various types of images. These images include scanning electron microscopic images, optical microscopic images, optical photos, resistivity images, seismic volumes, remote-sensing images, etc. With fast-evolving machine learning (ML) technology and computing power in recent decades, computers can achieve nearhuman-level to super-human-level performance with scalable high efficiency in the computer vision field. These technological revolutions facilitated image-based geological interpretation in petroleum exploration and production. For example, a fault picking method applied to 3-D seismic volume data using deep learning can achieve superior performance in comparison to conventional auto-picking methods. In addition, under the new normal of low oil prices, the petroleum industry seeks cost-effective strategies such as automating traditionally labor-intensive processes. Nevertheless, the potential of applying ML to geological image interpretation is still facing a few key challenges including data scarcity, data distribution, poor data and/or label quality, data leakage, learning algorithms, model architecture, training methodologies, testing and evaluation metrics, hyper-parameters optimization, model drift, production deployment, and the like.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Accelerating uncertainty quantification in incremental dynamic analysis using dimension reduction-based surrogate modeling

We propose a surrogate modeling framework based on dimension reduction to facilitate the quantification of seismic risk of structural systems in performance-based earthquake engineering. The framework adopts incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) for addressing hazard variability, and promotes significant computational efficiency improvement for propagating epistemic uncertainties associated with the structural models. It utilizes both linear and nonlinear dimension reduction approaches, equipped with inverse mappings, to learn a functional between the input parameter space (e.g., the epistemic uncertainties of the structure) to the high-dimensional output space created through the IDA implementation across different ground motions and seismic intensity levels. Polynomial chaos expansion is adopted as the surrogate model to learn this functional in the reduced space. A nine-story steel moment-resisting frame with uncertain structural properties is used as a testbed. Furthermore, we select the seismic fragility curves as a measure of the structure’s seismic performance, since it provides an estimate of the probability of entering specified damage states for given levels of ground shaking.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Generation of random geological models using multi-randomization for machine learning

Generating high-fidelity geological models is essential for advancing machine learning (ML) methods in automated seismic interpretation. For instance, seismic images paired with corresponding fault labels are foundational for ML-based fault detection from seismic migration sections. While several open-access datasets of random geological models exist, open-source tools specifically designed to produce large volumes of such models for ML applications remain scarce. To address this gap, we present RGM (Random Geological Model), an open-source software package for efficiently generating 2D and 3D synthetic geological models tailored for ML workflows. RGM supports the creation of diverse model components, including medium property distributions (P-/S-wave velocities and density), seismic reflectivity images (i.e., synthetic migration sections), relative geological time, and discrete fault attributes such as probability, dip, strike, rake, and displacement. It also accommodates the creation of complex geological features such as salt bodies and unconformities. The model generation algorithm employs a multi-randomization strategy, yielding an effectively infinite-dimensional model space that encompasses a wide range of geological scenarios and associated seismic features. Furthermore, RGM incorporates a method to generate synthetic elastic migration images using analytical elastic reflection coefficients combined with frequency-dependent scaling. This functionality enables the creation of training datasets for ML models that leverage elastic seismic images. RGM is implemented in modern object-oriented Fortran, allowing users to flexibly control statistical parameters governing model variability. We demonstrate the capability, performance, and geological realism of the package through comprehensive 2D and 3D examples.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Fourier-DeepONet: Fourier-enhanced deep operator networks for full waveform inversion with improved accuracy, generalizability, and robustness

In this article, full waveform inversion (FWI) infers the subsurface structure information from seismic waveform data by solving a non-convex optimization problem. Data-driven FWI has been increasingly studied with various neural network architectures to improve accuracy and computational efficiency. Nevertheless, the applicability of pre-trained neural networks is severely restricted by potential discrepancies between the source function used in the field survey and the one utilized during training. Here, we develop a Fourier-enhanced deep operator network (Fourier-DeepONet) for FWI with the generalization of seismic sources, including the frequencies and locations of sources. Specifically, we employ the Fourier neural operator as the decoder of DeepONet, and we utilize source parameters as one input of Fourier-DeepONet, facilitating the resolution of FWI with variable sources. To test Fourier-DeepONet, we develop three new and realistic FWI benchmark datasets (FWI-F, FWI-L, and FWI-FL) with varying source frequencies, locations, or both. Our experiments demonstrate that compared with existing data-driven FWI methods, Fourier-DeepONet obtains more accurate predictions of subsurface structures in a wide range of source parameters. Moreover, the proposed Fourier-DeepONet exhibits superior robustness when handling data with Gaussian noise or missing traces and sources with Gaussian noise, paving the way for more reliable and accurate subsurface imaging across diverse real conditions.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Seismic signal augmentation to improve generalization of deep neural networks

Deep learning has emerged as an effective approach for seismic data processing in general, and for earthquake monitoring in particular. The ability of deep learning models to generalize beyond the training and validation data is important for comprehensive earthquake monitoring; this ability furthermore depends on the availability of a sufficiently large and complete training dataset. However, this requirement can prove challenging to meet due to significant effort and time for data collection and labeling. Data augmentation provides an efficient and effective approach for increasing the dimension of training samples and improving generalization to unseen samples. In this paper, we present augmentation methods appropriate for seismic waveforms and demonstrate their ability to reduce bias and increase performance. Furthermore, these augmentation methods can be applied to a wide range of deep learning applications designed for seismic data.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Real-time deep-learning inversion of seismic full waveform data for CO 2 saturation and uncertainty in geological carbon storage monitoring

Deep-learning inversion has recently drawn attention in geological carbon storage research due to its potential of imaging and monitoring carbon storage in real time, significantly improving efficiency and safety of carbon storage operations. We present a deep-learning full waveform inversion method that after the neural network has been trained can image CO 2 saturation and its uncertainty in real time. Our deep-learning inversion method is based on the U-Net architecture with the neural network trained on pairs of synthetic seismic data and CO 2 saturation models. Accordingly, our training establishes a mapping relationship between seismic data and CO 2 saturation models and once fully trained directly estimates CO 2 saturation as a function of subsurface location. We further quantify uncertainties of CO 2 saturation estimates using the Monte Carlo dropout method and a bootstrap aggregating method. For this proof-of-concept study, the CO 2 training models and data are derived from the Kimberlina 1.2 model, a hypothetical 3D geological carbon storage model that is constructed based on various geological and hydrological data from the Southern San Joaquin Basin, California. We perform deep-learning inversion experiments using noise-free and noisy training and test data sets and compare the results. Our modelling experiments show that (1) the deep-learning inversion can estimate 2D distributions of CO 2 fairly well even in the presence of Gaussian random noise and (2) both CO 2 saturation imaging and uncertainty quantification can be done in real time. Our results suggest that the deep-learning inversion method can serve as a robust real-time monitoring tool for geological carbon storage and/or other time-varying reservoir/aquifer properties that result from injection, extraction, and/or other subsurface transport phenomena.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Neural operators for stochastic modeling of nonlinear structural system response to natural hazards

Traditionally, neural networks have been employed to learn the mapping between finite-dimensional Euclidean spaces. However, recent research has opened up new horizons, focusing on the utilization of deep neural networks to learn operators capable of mapping infinite-dimensional function spaces. Here, in this work, we employ two state-of-the-art neural operators, the deep operator network (DeepONet) and the Fourier neural operator (FNO) for the prediction of the nonlinear time history response of structural systems exposed to natural hazards, such as earthquakes and windstorms. Specifically, we propose two architectures, a self-adaptive FNO and a fast Fourier transform-based DeepONet (DeepFNOnet), where we employ a FNO beyond the DeepONet to learn the discrepancy between the ground truth and the solution predicted by the DeepONet. To demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the architectures, two problems are considered. In the first, we use the proposed model to predict the seismic nonlinear dynamic response of a six-story shear building subject to stochastic ground motions. In the second problem, we employ the operators to predict the wind-induced nonlinear dynamic response of a high-rise building while explicitly accounting for the stochastic nature of the wind excitation. In both cases, the trained metamodels achieve high accuracy while being orders of magnitude faster than their corresponding high-fidelity models.

DeepONet↗