Bite of Science: Geophysics xom URC Seismic CII06 January 2007 Bite of Science: Geophysics

What do you want in your career? Would you like a career in science, with lots of challenge? Do you like technology and want to be at the leading edge of new advances in computer applications? Do you want to work in a fast-paced team environment? Do you want to do work that is important to the world? Do you want excitement, adventure and travel? - Characteristics of the job

What are you good at doing? Are you good at math & science? Are you creative, a good communicator and a team player? Do you like working with computers? Do you like to solve problems? Are you well-organized and good at multi-tasking? - Skills and abilities

What is Geophysics? Applying physics to the earth to understand its elements Understanding the structure of other planets / moons Geophysics has been part of space shuttle and moon landing programs Seeing and sensing remotely beneath the surface of the Earth

Earth Structure by USGS www.usgs.gov What is Geophysics? Tootsie Pop Earth Model Whole earth Earth has a radius of 6,400 km, composed of core, mantle and crust Earth Structure by USGS www.usgs.gov The study of the composition of the Earth

What is Geophysics? See crust of the earth on a large scale in map view Continents and mid oceanic ridge Continental drift, earth is in motion [this theory did not become accepted theory until the early 70’s] Earthquakes, tsunamis, mountain building Earthquake in Indian Ocean caused tsunami Boxing Day 2004 USGS recorded that earthquake had happened and thought a tsunami was likely but had no-one to contact on Boxing Day [no early warning] Geophysicists monitor and measure the earth’s movement [time of travel of earthquake energy] The study of plate tectonics, volcanoes and earthquakes

What does a Geophysicist do? Exploration Geophysicist uses geophysics to find oil and gas Global Oil and Gas Fields Explores for oil and gas around the world Slide Courtesy of ExxonMobil

What does a Geophysicist do? This illustration shows a real marine survey with an example of the type of seismic data that would be recorded. Have you ever wondered how anyone ever figured out exactly where an offshore well should be drilled? This is an example of how we apply physics to the earth to find the best place to drill We measure where the rock layer change – the interfaces We don’t see oil, or gas, or water; we see the difference in the rock physics Photo courtesy Veritas Shoots seismic surveys

What does a Geophysicist do? Diagram of what we will be looking at on the field trip, a lot of preparation is required to get to this point Energy source, recording devices, recording truck Trace the path of the energy Some reflected, some transmitted Shoots seismic surveys

A Geophone records SEISMIC energy like a microphone What does a Geophysicist do? A Geophone records SEISMIC energy like a microphone records music This illustration shows a vibroseis truck and geophone. Shoots seismic surveys using a Vibroseis truck

What does a Geophysicist do? Vibroseis trucks Energy sources Vibroseis shakes the earth Work all over the world – Canada and Middle East Shoots seismic surveys

What does a Geophysicist do? Laying out geophones In old days used to have wide, high-impact cut lines Today, in environmentally sensitive areas we use hand cut, low-impact cut lines; supported by helicopters, not as much heavy equipment * As a geophysicist, your responsibility to ensure that work is done in environmentally sensitive manner “Juggie” planting geophones in Africa

What does a Geophysicist do? Acquired data is processed at data processing centres in the office Geophysicist at top right is building a velocity model to get better data to analyze Technologists often process as well Process seismic data

What does a Geophysicist do? Oil Gas W ater Seal Rock Trap Reservoir Rock Migration Exploration geophysicists Interpreter analyzes the finished processed data to get an image of the subsurface An anticline or buried mountain. Oil floats on water, and gas rises above oil; geophysicists look for high points where oil and gas would be found If you want water, drill the lows Source Rock Generation (Cooking) Interprets seismic data to find where oil & gas are trapped

What does a Geophysicist do? Exploration geophysicists Interpreter analyzes the finished processed data to get an image of the subsurface Mad Dog Field dip line in Gulf of Mexico – Green Canyon 826 Uses computer technology to interpret seismic data

Seismic Image of Ancient Reef in Alberta [400 million years old] What does a Geophysicist do? Exploration geophysicists Interpreter works with a geologist to understand what kind of features we might expect to see in the subsurface Here is what a modern reef looks like today [Belize] Reef margin and deep water to top of picture; beach is back toward the photographer The sides of the cube are seismic profiles of the subsurface The surfaces are interpreted to be a boundary between rock layers with different physical properties Here is what an ancient buried reef might look like; we try to drill a well into the reef; one or two wells just missed or are on the flank Photo courtesy Lindsay Dunn, geologist Seismic Image of Ancient Reef in Alberta [400 million years old] Uses computer technology to interpret seismic data

What does a Geophysicist do? Exploration geophysicists Interpreter analyzes the finished processed data to get an image of the subsurface Depth or time slice to locate former river channels. Uses computer technology to interpret seismic data

What does a Geophysicist do? Exploration geophysicists Interpreter analyzes the finished processed data to get an image of the subsurface A buried mountain – similar to what you see on the way to Banff Back is vertical slice through the earth, coloured is a representation of a buried surface Uses computer technology to interpret seismic data

What does a Geophysicist do? Exploration geophysicists Subsurface structure is not necessarily the same as the structure at the surface Communicating the ideas, making decisions, teamwork All types of people from all over the world Photo courtesy Veritas Uses high tech visualization to interpret seismic data

What does a Geophysicist do? Remote sensing used to understand the earth Helpful in evaluating large areas Aeromag data can be used in exploring for minerals Collects aeromagnetic and gravity data

What does a Geophysicist do? Other applications for geophysics – SEG Geoscientists Without Borders help people in developing nations. Resistivity well logging tool Finds water in Malawi

What does a Geophysics student do? When not in the classroom, will also do some project work U of C student GPR on Ellesmere Island Surveys in the Arctic Islands as though on Mars

What do Geology & Geophysics students do? When not in a classroom Moose Mountain field trip out near Bragg Creek, Alberta [west of Calgary] Go on geology field trips

What does a Geophysics student do? Learn about field operations, how data is gathered Go to geophysics field school

What does a Geoscience Technician do? Data processing Data management Support the geophysicist A lot of expertise in specific technology [Similar to relationship between nurses and doctors] Data management and support

Who hires Geoscientists? The Petroleum Industry oil and gas exploration and production Engineering Companies environmental studies Mining Companies mineral resource exploration Universities teaching and research Governments regulatory agencies

Education requirements? M.Sc in geophysics, physics, mathematics, geology, earth science or computer science (Required to work for a major oil company) B.Sc in geophysics, physics, mathematics, geology, earth science or computer science

Career Opportunities Ph.D. degree: research geophysicist, professor M.Sc degree: geophysicist, geologist, engineer, seismic data processor B.Sc degree: geoscience technician seismic data processor seismic crew technologist High School diploma: seismic field crew worker data trader sales & marketing rep data manager Different jobs require different levels of education.

Workforce Trends Enrollment data are a good metric for health of the geoscience discipline because it basically shows the supply of geoscientists that our schools are producing who can enter the workforce. The steep decline you see between 1985ish and 1989ish at the Bachelor’s level reflects the oil boom and bust. Since then, enrollments have been trucking along at 3K, MS at 1K and PhD at ~700…. In 80s, we had that huge demand for the energy industry, and it was met until the market crashed…now we have a similar amount of demand, but the market has diversified and so you don’t see that reflect in the enrollment data. Source: AGI Workforce Program, 2011

Attrition, Growth and Replacement in the next 10 years in the U.S. 262,627 geoscience jobs exist today Bachelor’s: 30% Master’s: 43% Doctorate: 66% Geoscience Grads Continuing on to Geoscience Careers ~130,000 geoscientists expected to retire 72,000 geoscience job growth by 2021 (BLS) 15,000 total new graduates (MS or PhD) 45,000 total new graduates if hiring BS/BA OR 1. We have over a quarter of a million geoscience occupations that exist in today’s market. 2. In the next 5-10 years, we are expecting 50% of the geoscience workforce to reach retirement age. You can make note of how the economic recession has pushed back or are affecting the retirement ages of professionals. Even so, this graph still holds true – they have to retire sometime! It was during 2008 that people started pushing back retirements that stagnated the market…but I think that as the economy recovers and as professionals continue to age, retirements will start to happen. Many of these new jobs will be in consulting, finance, management positions, engineering etc. In Canada, they have 5-year programs for undergraduate geoscience degrees that make those students workforce ready by the time they graduate. Their programs give students the technical, hands-on training they need to enter the job market right away. However, our programs here, and in Australia in fact, use the undergraduate degree to prepare students for their advanced degrees for their MS or PhD’s to then be workforce ready. You can use this information to explain that if we were to hire ALL of the MS and PhD degree recipients, we’d only have 15,000 positions filled. But if we were to take “the Canadian Model”, and hire all the BA/BS students, then that’d up our number to 45,000. This still leaves us with a net deficit of over 150,000 geoscientists in the next 10 years. There’s HUGE demand! Net deficit of over 150,000 geoscientists by 2021

Demographics

The Breakdown: Workforce Trends 1. This graph demonstrates the MEDIAN (not mean) annual salaries in 2011 for geoscience-related occupations. 2. The bold bars indicate the broad-occupational categories (i.e. all of Management positions, all of Arch. and Engineering, etc.) and the light colored bars are geoscience occupations. 3. You can see that many of the light colored, geoscience occupations actually outpace the broad-occupational categories. Geoscientists typically make more money! 4. By comparison, the bold black line indicates the salary for all US occupations…which is considerably lower than the geoscience occupations. So, with high demand comes competitive salaries!

How much does a Geoscientist earn per year? American Association of Petroleum Geologists 2011 Salary Survey Slide has averages, some get paid more, some get paid less

How does a Geophysicist’s salary compare with other professions? Dentist Geologist Engineer Lawyer Veterinarian Architect Accountant $ 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 Mean salary (APEGGA 2006) Keep in mind that these are averaged for all practicing professionals.

Acknowledgements Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractors University of Calgary Veritas DGC TGS Paradigm Geophysical Komex International Fugro Airborne Surveys NASA APEGGA ExxonMobil American Geological Institute American Association of Petroleum Geologists Hess Corporation

Presented by Lisa Buckner Hess Corporation Seismic Data Loading Team Leader Senior Processing Geophysicist M.Sc Geophysics – University of Houston B.Sc Geophysics – Texas A&M University

Questions?