Microseismic Data Exchange Standards Stewart A. Levin Stanford University

And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. Genesis 11:1 The Tower of Babel

What do we want? Unambiguous meanings Flexibility Comprehensive scope Efficiency Simple decoding Leverage existing standards (NIH) Protected by and protection from IP issues

Acceptance of SEG Standards SEG-D SEG SPS SEG-Y SEG ADS SEG RODE SEG Polarity Digital Recorders Marine Energy Sources Marine Streamers MT/EMAP SEG P1,P2,P3 SEG SI MetricSEG-2 SEG A,B,C,EX - OGP

SEG-D recap Acquisition data transfer and archive Four revisions since 1975 release Complex decoding –“I’d die first before using SEG-D!” Creation limited to approximately 50 manufacturers

SEG-Y recap Most often used for processed seismic delivery One revision* since 1975 release Simple decoding –2 & 4 byte integer headers, integer or floating pt samples Used by thousands of companies and institutions * Undergoing second revision

SEG RODE SEG RODE recap API RP66 standard applied to seismic Highly flexible –Can bundle all sorts of metadata with traces Quite complex –20+ basic data types –Many bit field manipulations –SEG committee SEG-Y example wrong! Used by a small handful of companies

What do we really want? (a) Long lifetime (b) Simple format to read and write or (b’) Comprehensive format limited to a few specialists

Let’s talk microseismic Acquisition –Mix of passive and active data –Very long traces –Sensor orientations –Accurate time stamps –Precise locations –Sizeable ancillary data –In field processing, e.g. rotations All supported in SEG-D 3.0

Let’s talk microseismic Processing –Input  SEG-D –Output is not seismic section Is there a need for a new/updated SEG standard? –No: Energistics project underway –Yes: SEG-Y upgrade underway –Maybe: SEG-2 upgrade proposal exists

An Invitation SEG-Y rev 2 needs YOU!