Government, Industry Support to Help 'De-Noise' Seismic Data

A new five-year, $5 million government- and industry-funded project at UBC will see researchers in the departments of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Computer Science and Mathematics designing the next generation of seismic imaging technology.

The Dynamic nonlinear optimization for imaging in seismic exploration (DNOISE II) project received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada this October, and matching support from industry partners including BG Group, BP, Chevron,  ConocoPhillips, PetroBras, Total SA and WesternGeco.

“This work will address  fundamental issues related to the quality and cost of seismic data acquisition, and to the ability to mine exceedingly large data volumes,” says associate professor Felix Herrmann, director of the UBC-Seismic Laboratory for Imaging and Modeling and principal investigator on the project. 

"These investments will help keep UBC and Canada at the forefront of advancing seismic imaging technology by adapting transformational developments in applied and computational harmonic analysis, convex optimization and geophysical inversion." 

The interdisciplinary project involves researcher from across UBC Science, including Michael Friedlander (Computer Science), Ozgur Yilmaz (Mathematics) and Herrmann (Earth and Ocean Sciences). Much of the funding will provide research support for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

More on the DNOISE II project: http://slim.eos.ubc.ca/index.php?module=articles&func=display&aid=345