Seismic Soundoff

In this intriguing conversation, David Bartel, the Chair of the SEG Foundation, provides an exclusive insight into how the nonprofit organization is advancing geophysics research, supporting SEG members, and positively impacting society. David highlights the key programs funded by the Foundation, such as scholarships, field camps, Geoscientists without Borders, and more. He also shares some inspir...

Arthur Cheng, who became the first Chinese president of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, talks about his journey from being a student to becoming the president of the Society. He shares some of the highlights from his five decades of being a member and what his role as a barrier-breaker means to him. Arthur reflects on his early days as a grad student and how he overcame his fear of givin...

Kurang Mehta discusses the November special section on carbon management in The Leading Edge. In this episode, get an inside look at the emerging field of carbon management. You will learn about the history and methods of carbon capture and storage. Kurang also provides thoughtful perspectives on how geoscientists can uniquely contribute to carbon management while recognizing biases that may need...

Oil and gas companies have an enormous role in transitioning to a renewable future. This episode examines how Ipieca partners with companies and organizations to support a sustainable future through emissions reduction, nature conservation, and stakeholder engagement. Ipieca is the global oil and gas association for advancing environmental and social performance across the energy transition. In th...

Chao Wang and Stephen Graf discuss the October special section in The Leading Edge on deep exploration. In the 1920s, the first oil discovery in Seminole, Oklahoma, was made at a depth of approximately 4,000 feet. In 1949, the average depth was 3,600 feet. By 2008, it was 6,000 feet. Currently, the world's deepest oil well in Russia extends 49,000 feet into the earth's surface. Deep exploration be...

Steven Lynch discusses his article in The Leading Edge, "High visual resolution interpretation: The case for virtual seismic reality." Steve lays out the case for why the seismic you have is better than you think. He argues that the industry needs to undergo a complete change of mindset regarding visualization. Steve explains a natural seismic display, the third form of resolution that's often ign...

Sue Carr and Jess Kozman discuss the complexities and possibilities for managing downhole geophysical data for carbon storage. In this insightful conversation with host Andrew Geary, Sue and Jess highlight the data types associated with carbon storage and the first step in managing this data. They discuss the challenges in managing well data and clarify common misunderstandings about managing data...

For this milestone episode, this show highlights key statistics, showcases clips from the Top 10 episodes, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the show is made. In total, Seismic Soundoff has over 170,300 listens across its 200 episodes. The podcast has featured 72 episodes on the cutting-edge topics presented in The Leading Edge. And one of the things we're most proud of is the quality of...

Steve Roche discusses his current Geoscientists without Borders project addressing volcano preparedness in Guatemala. Steve's GWB project addresses the geohazard resiliency and safety of the communities in Guatemala. His project implements community-based educational workshops about earthquake and volcanic hazards. Steve's project also works to increase Guatemala's seismic and volcanic monitoring...

Kurt Marfurt reflects on his career and the recent award of SEG's highest honor, the Maurice Ewing Medal. In this engaging conversation with host Andrew Geary, Kurt shares his reaction to learning about receiving the Maurice Ewing Medal. He offers his major takeaways from various career stops along his path and how his volunteer roles at the SEG advanced his career. Kurt provides wisdom on what's...

Philip Ringrose discusses his upcoming Distinguished Instructor Short Course, "Storage of Carbon Dioxide in Saline Aquifers – Building confidence by forecasting and monitoring." Interest in carbon capture and storage (CCS) is growing rapidly as a crucial part of global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, Philip reviews the sc...

Paolo Dell'Aversana highlights his article in The Leading Edge, discussing a dual-sensory approach to understanding seismic. In a first for this podcast, host Andrew Geary and Paolo discuss music's role in interpreting seismic. Based on concepts well-established in cognitive sciences, Paolo introduces the idea of expanded imaging in geophysics, using a dual-sensory (audiovisual) perception of a da...

Sara Gentilini, founder of GEOfood, discusses how her organization supports the sustainable development of local communities and helps increase achievement towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. GEOfood is an initiative for communities and environmentally friendly food enterprises in UNESCO Global Geoparks territories. This unique partnership with GEOfood and Global Geoparks enables local t...

Felix J. Herrmann highlights the July 2023 special section in The Leading Edge - digitalization in energy. In this episode with host Andrew Geary, Felix discusses his open-access article, "Learned multiphysics inversion with differentiable programming and machine learning." He shares why the future of the oil and gas industry depends on the democratization of technology design. He provides insight...

Fabien Allo highlights his award-winning article, "Characterization of a carbonate geothermal reservoir using rock-physics-guided deep neural networks." In this episode with host Andrew Geary, Fabien shares the potential of deep neural networks (DNNs) in integrating seismic data for reservoir characterization. He explains why DNNs have yet to be widely utilized in the energy industry and why utili...

Aria Abubakar and Wenyi Hu, co-chair and vice-chair of the IMAGE Technical Program Committee, respectively, discuss the reasons for attending IMAGE '23. The third annual International Meeting for Applied Geoscience & Energy (IMAGE) will bring geoscientists from around the world from 28 August to 1 September at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. IMAGE is the largest technical...

Lia Martinez shares the critical skills necessary to network successfully. In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, Lia offers tips and best practices to fully utilize networking to further your career and technical skills. She explains why seven follow-ups (or touches) is the magic number, the importance of establishing credibility early, and how to use note-taking to your advantage. She outl...

Anja Klotzsche discusses her Near-Surface Global Lecture, "Unlocking the potential of GPR for subsurface characterization by using full-waveform inversion." The heterogeneous near-surface consists of the complex interactions between rock, soil, water, air, and living organisms, which determine the availability of life-sustaining resources such as water. This environment has been increasingly explo...

As the size and complexity of data soars exponentially, machine learning (ML) has gained prominence in applications in geoscience and related fields. ML-powered technology increasingly rivals or surpasses human performance and fuels a large range of leading-edge research. In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, mathematician Herman Jaramillo discusses his new book, Machine Learning for Scienc...

Öz Yilmaz returns to the podcast to highlight his award-winning article, "A reality check on full-wave inversion applied to land seismic data for near-surface modeling." In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, Öz assesses the accuracy of full-wave inversion applied to land seismic data for near-surface modeling. He elaborates on his definition of near-surface and explains why he believes full...

Seismic Soundoff has featured some of the most well-known geoscientists, authors, and teachers for the past seven years. And since episode 72, host Andrew Geary has asked his guests, "What is one piece of advice you would offer someone that would like to succeed in this field?" The insight and experience across the 186 episodes are vast. To help collect some of this wisdom into one episode, we're...

Critical mineral exploration will play a key role in human development and progress. The April 2023 special section of The Leading Edge focuses on the issue of critical minerals from the perspective of recent progress in mining exploration and anticipated future needs as the global energy economy transitions to higher use of, and reliance on, renewables. In this conversation with host Andrew Geary...

SEG President Ken Tubman discusses the future outlook of SEG and applied geophysics. In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, Ken provides the latest information on the ongoing SEG transformation. He outlines how SEG could allow greater experimentation, the pros and cons of its current governance structure, and how members can best contribute to SEG's future. Ken shares some risks for SEG's tr...

Dr. Elikplim Abla Dzikunoo and Abdul Rashid Seidu discuss their Geoscientists without Borders project, "Provision of potable water to communities in northeastern Ghana." This GWB project will directly help the inhabitants of two communities (Zagsliari and Salinwia) located within the Nasia river basin in the West Mamprusi district – Northeastern region of Ghana. In Zagsliari, men, women, and child...

Yogaani Bhatia, SEG's Managing Director for International Operations, discusses the value of the SEG regional offices as SEG celebrates over ten years of the Middle East regional office. In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, Yogaani describes the work and vision for the SEG regional offices. She explains how geophysics is changing in the Middle East and highlights the similarities and diffe...