Short Course — Distributed acoustic sensing for seismic measurements – what geophysicists and engineers need to know

Geoscientists and engineers are very comfortable using seismic data sets acquired with geophones, hydrophones, and accelerometers because we have a long, well-defined set of standards for acquiring, processing, and interpreting them. However, distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) seismic measurements are rapidly augmenting, and in some cases replacing, the data from these conventional tools. Technologists are frequently unaccustomed to using DAS seismic data sets since it directly acquires relative strain or strain rate measurements and not the more familiar pressure, displacement, velocity, and acceleration data. There are also acquisition parameter selections that must be made to optimize the acquired data to accomplish the purpose of the seismic survey. This course is designed to build an intuition and understanding of the value, limitations, and applications of DAS seismic technology. In addition to the lecture and accompanying book, software will be provided, which will allow the student to interactively explore DAS seismic technology.

The goal of this course is to create a basic intuition for the value of DAS seismic measurements as well as the acquisition and processing decisions that affect its quality. The ever-present trade-offs will be discussed between resolution and signal to noise ratio. The limitation of one component measurements will be countered by the advantage of spatially dense sampling. After taking this course, it will be easier for the technologist to decide whether to acquire seismic data using DAS, as well as how to choose optimum acquisition and processing parameters.