2021 Fall Newsletter_final

geophysics

REVEALING THE DYNAMICS OF EARTH FALL 2021

Fall 2021 MINES DEPARTMENT

Colorado School of Mines of GEOPHYSICS
Department of Geophysics
CONTENTS
Newsletter
3 | Welcome from the Department Head
Colorado School of Mines 4 | Mines Glaciology Laboratory
President 7 | Field Camp
12 | Explorations in Distributed Acoustic Sensing
Dr. Paul Johnson 14 | Geophysics Reunion
18 | Teaching with a Heart
Department Head 19 | Student Organizations
Dr. Paul Sava 20 | Research Roundup

[email protected]

Associate Department Head
Dr. Brandon Dugan
[email protected]

Geophysics Office, Room 283 Find us on social media
Green Center
924 16thStreet www.facebook.com/MinesGeophysics
@MinesGeophysics
Golden, CO 80401

Main Office Phone Number
303.273.3451

Newsletter Staff
Noelle Vance, David Churchwell

Aaron Girard, Chloe Locke
Iga Pawelec, Anna Titova

Cover Photo: Hannah Verboncoeur

Visit us online at
geophysics.mines.edu

2 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

Welcome from the Department Head

Welcome to the Fall 2021 edition of the Geophysics Newsletter!

I hope that this newsletter finds you well, in good health, and good spirits. I will use this op-
portunity to update you on the Department and, in particular, to highlight outstanding develop-
ments that will make a significant impact on our program.

As some may already know, Mines conducted faculty searches in clusters built around multi-
ple themes during the preceding Academic Year. Geophysics played a central role in the Data
Science cluster, and we were fortunate to receive significant interest from many excellent geo-
physicists. In fact, the quality of applicants in our field was so high that our colleagues on the
search committee persuaded the Mines administration to hire not one but two outstanding col-
leagues to the Geophysics faculty. As noted below, both are excellent researchers and educators
who have already made a significant impact in their fields and who will greatly enhance our pro-
gram.

Dr. Eileen Martin will join the Mines faculty Dr. Bia Villas Boas will join the Mines in May
in January 2022 with a joint appointment in 2022 with an appointment in Geophysics. She
Geophysics and Applied Mathematics & Sta- received her Ph.D. (2020) in Physical Oceanog-
tistics. She obtained her Ph.D. (2018) in Com- raphy from the Scripps Institution of Oceanog-
putational and Mathematical Engineering raphy at UC San Diego and is currently a post-
from Stanford University and is currently an Assistant Profes- doctoral scholar at Caltech, working closely with JPL research-
sor in the Department of Mathematics at Virginia Tech. ers.
Eileen’s work centers on the theory and application of dis- Bia’s work focuses on studying the global oceans and their
tributed fiber optic sensing through developing novel instru- interaction with the atmosphere and includes theory, numeri-
mentation, field deployments in multiple Earth environments, cal modeling, and remote sensing. Her research lies at the fore-
and petabyte-scale computational methods for data analysis. front of quantifying how surface-wave physics influences global
She applies her research to a diverse array of environmental, climate processes and has already made a significant impact on
energy, and infrastructure questions, including subsurface her scientific community, including by shaping upcoming NASA
imaging of geothermal sites, earthquake detection, perma- oceanographic satellite missions like the US-French SWOT
frost thaw, near-surface geotechnical characterization, mine (Surface Water Ocean Topography) mission to launch in 2022.
safety, and glacier motion. This broad spectrum of interests Bia has been recognized nationally and internationally for her
provides opportunities to collaborate broadly across disci- research, being selected as a Fellow for the Planetary Boundary
plines at Mines. Layers program of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and
Eileen has also successfully secured external funding and as a French-American Doctoral Exchange Program laureate. Her
has been PI or Co-PI on ~$2.5M in competitive NSF and DOE research will strengthen collaborations with key external
grants. She is a recent recipient of an NSF CAREER grant from groups (NOAA, NCAR) working on climate physics, data science,
the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure focused on large- and high-performance computing.
scale seismology algorithms. Bia is a dedicated educator, deeply involved in scientific com-
Eileen is a committed educator who has devoted great en- puting education, and served as an instructor for The Carpen-
ergy to getting math undergrads started in theoretical and tries - a global organization providing scientific computing
computational research over the past years. She is also a pas- training. She has a deep commitment to promoting diversity,
sionate advocate for women in science, launching a Women equity, and inclusion and fostering a nurturing educational en-
in Data Science event at Virginia Tech and promoting equity vironment where students are supported to fulfill their poten-
and inclusion across the geophysics profession. tial.

We are thrilled to have Eileen and Bia on board and look forward to their arrival at Mines. They will make a tremendous impact on

our program and drive the future scientific and professional leadership in our organization!

Welcome also our undergraduate and graduate students, who return to an almost normal Mines campus. With the whole Mines

campus, we are rediscovering normal work patterns, including full in-person classes, and increasingly normal office and lab activities.

We are also starting to travel again and host prospective students and visitors for lectures and research collaboration. I hope that we

will see more of you — alumni, friends, and collaborators — on campus when your circumstances allow.

Finally, I would like to thank those of you who joined us for the Geophysics Reunion organized in September. It was an excellent

opportunity to reconnect multiple generations of Mines geophysicists, and we look forward to the next opportunity to bring togeth-

er our extended family. In just five years from now, we will cross into the second century of Mines Geophysics, and we hope to cele-

brate that milestone with a large gathering and many other activities of broad interest for our extended community. Please stay

tuned and do not hesitate to reach out or visit when the opportunity arises.

I wish you only the best, with good health and professional success. Be safe! Stay in touch! —Paul

3

Matthew Siegfried

MINES GLACIOLOGY LABORATORY:

OBSERVING THE EARTH’S GLACIERS & ICE SHEETS
FROM THE GROUND, AIR, AND SPACE

New research1 out of the Mines Glaciology La- borne geophysical methods to understand the
boratory uses laser altimetry measurements from physical processes of Earth’s glaciers and ice
NASA’s newly launched, state-of-the-art ICESat-2 sheets (continent-sized ice features). The team col-
satellite, as well as European Space Agency radar lects and synthesizes ground-, air-, and space-
altimetry, to track the filling and draining of sub- based data sets in an effort to span the spatial
glacial lakes beneath the Antarctic ice sheets. (centimeters to 100s of kilometers) and temporal
The hydrological dynamics of these meltwater-fed (minutes to centuries) scales on which these pro-
lakes can impact ice velocity, ice mass loss, and cesses occur. They apply creative geophysical ap-
ocean properties at the periphery of Antarctica. proaches to overcome the inherent difficulty of
Therefore, constraining their physics is critical for observing continent-scale ice masses that drive
improving ice sheet model projections and deter- and react to other components of the Earth’s glob-
mining the transport of freshwater and carbon in- al climate system in order to develop new insight
to the Southern Ocean. These isolated water fea- into ice-sheet evolution.
tures also serve as some of the most interesting
Earth analogs for regions where we might find life Some of Dr. Siegfried’s recent work couples
elsewhere in the Solar System. ground-based geophysical data with in situ data
sets collected from a subglacial lake after melting
Led by Dr. Matthew Siegfried, the Mines Glaciol- a borehole through more than 3600 ft of ice, in-
ogy group uses satellite remote sensing tech- cluding fiber-optic-based temperature observa-
niques in combination with field-based and air- tions and sediment core analysis, to test hypothe-

4 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

ses developed using previous measurements from variety of ground-based geophysical techniques. Dr.
space. Dr. Siegfried is a science team member for Michaelides will join the Department of Earth and
NASA’s ICESat-2 mission and is involved in seven Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St.
active NASA and National Science Foundation Louis as an assistant professor in Fall 2022 and is look-
grants, with the budgets totalling more than ing for students interested in research opportunities.
$5,000,000.
The lab also includes three graduate students and
Within the Glaciology Laboratory, Dr. Siegfried six undergraduates. Elena Savidge is using ocean
has cultivated a diverse and highly interdisciplinary measurements from seal-based instruments to find
team spanning glaciology, hydrology, geology, plumes of warm water along Antarctica’s ice edge
oceanography, and engineering. Two postdoctor- that indicate regions of substantial localized ice
al researchers within the lab broaden the team’s melting. She pairs seal tag field measurements with
foci. Dr. Tasha Snow couples a marine science optical imagery to ground-truth ocean observations
background with glaciology to study the interac- from space. In collaboration with glaciologists at the
tions occurring at the interface between the ice, University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory,
ocean, and atmosphere around the Greenland Wilson Sauthoff investigates active subglacial lake
and Antarctic ice sheets. She works with data sci- activity using ice surface height variability during
entists from the University of California Berkeley to lake drain and fill cycles. His work provides a better
build cloud-based, open-sourced machine learn- understanding of the subglacial hydrological sys-
ing and image processing tech-
niques for developing new ap- tem, its stability under variable
plications for satellite-derived ice thickness, and its influence
sea surface temperatures (from on the broader, interconnected
thermal infrared imagery) and glacier and marine environ-
study ocean impacts on glacier ments. Hannah Verboncoeur
change around Antarctica. Dr. joined the lab this semester. She
Roger Michaelides brings plane- will study the floating Ross Ice
tary and engineering research Shelf (the largest Antarctic ice
to the group. He develops novel shelf, spanning 182,000 square
techniques for fully exploiting miles), which provides stabilizing
Interferometric Synthetic Aper- backstress (i.e., buttressing) for
ture (InSAR) data to study dy- ice streams and outlet glaciers
namic processes in the Earth’s around its periphery. Her work
hydrosphere and cryosphere, will combine various field obser-
such as permafrost dynamics. vational techniques, such as
He is currently funded by the historical and modern airborne
Colorado Geological Survey to radar sounding, satellite image-
map and investigate hazards ry, and regional ice sheet mod-
across the state using InSAR. In eling to determine the factors
his free time, he also investigates pingos—
important indicators of extant and extinct near- Cash Koning
surface groundwater systems, hydrological proper-
ties, and local climate that have planetary ana- influencing the ice shelf but-
logs—in the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic with a tressing potential. The research group is also current-
ly recruiting a new graduate student to join the team
Previous page: Joint Mines/Georgia Tech field team, in- next semester to use Global Navigation Satellite Sys-
cluding Drs. Siegfried and Michaelides, collects multi-offset tem (GNSS) reflectometry to study snow accumula-
radar data for a pingo geophysical survey outside tion and densification processes in Antarctica and
Deadhorse, AK in April 2021. Center this page: This summer, validate atmospheric climate models and snow/ice
Cash Koning conducted field work on the Juneau Icefield compaction physics. Undergraduate researchers
and at the Mendenhall Glacier terminus. within the group include Michael Field, Venezia Fol-
lingstad, Cash Koning, Matthew Oleszko, Becca
Prentice, and Anna Valentine.

5

Continued from page 5

Within his team and the

broader earth science

community, Dr. Siegfried

also fosters the develop-

ment of cutting-edge ed-

ucational tools, outreach,

and synergistic polar

community-building pro-

grams. He has collaborat-

ed with institutions rang-

ing from local elementary

schools to the U.S. State

Department in an effort

to facilitate a conversa-

tion about the local, re-

gional, and global im-

pacts of changes at the

Earth’s poles. Current

work within the lab aims Tasha Snow
to build K-12, community Mines students investigating the Arapaho Glacier.

college, and undergradu-

ate lessons around virtual reality 360° video col- der the force of gravity, though, based on its tra-

lected in Antarctica and Greenland. Furthermore, jectory, that may change in the next decade. The

the team aims to build Python computer program- Mines team took ground penetrating radar meas-

ming and remote sensing-based workshops to urements across the glacier, while other members

help students learn marketable skills and gain ex- of the expedition drilled ice cores and recovered

posure to polar research. Dr. Siegfried also helps to ice samples for isotope measurements, produced

organize the annual, NSF/NASA-funded West Ant- a digital elevation model of the glacier using

arctic Ice Sheet Workshop where the same inter- drone-based Structure-from-Motion, and gathered

disciplinary, collaborative, diversity and inclusion rock samples for dating the glacial history of the

principles are fostered. area. The hot summer day meant melt water was

In early September this year, several members pouring across and off of the glacier while the

from the Mines Glaciology Laboratory joined 10 team conducted its work, but measurements were

other glaciologists, Earth scientists, and artists from largely successful in building a comparison study

across Colorado to investigate the state of the between measurements from the last two dec-

Arapaho Glacier, approximately 45 miles north- ades. —Contributed by Tasha Snow

west of Golden. Unlike most other Colorado glaci- 1Siegfried, M. R., & Fricker, H. A. (2021). Illuminating active
ers that have transitioned into unmoving snow subglacial lake processes with ICESat-2 laser altime-
fields, like the St. Mary’s Glacier, the Arapaho try. Geophysical Research Letters, 48,
Glacier may still contain enough mass to flow un- e2020GL091089. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091089

6 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

Iga Pawelec

FIELD CAMP 2021

7

Right: Hammering in electrodes for a DC resistivity survey at
the Mines Survey Field site. Below top left: Students learning
about the Matrice M600 Drone platform for airborne geo-
physical survey at Geophysical Discovery Lab (GDL). Below
top right: Drone-based magnetic survey being performed
above Mines GDL. Bottom left: Ground-penetrating Radar
Survey on Mines campus. Bottom right: Students happy,
even in the rain, while performing a gravity survey near
Clear Creek in search of the infamous Golden Fault. Right
page bottom: Deploying the Betsy gun energy source for
seismic experiments at the Mines Survey Field. (Photos con-
tributed by Richard Krahenbuhl, Iga Pawelec, and Mat-
thew Siegfried)

8 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

After a year hiatus, Mines Geophysics Field Camp lasted four weeks - students traveled to campus
resumed in the summer of 2021. Rather than trav-
eling to a remote location to conduct geophysi- for in-person field work for two weeks and then
cal surveys, Field Camp remained local to the
Golden area and the Mines campus. Due to the conducted virtual data processing for the final two
cancellation of last year’s Field Camp, this year
included both third-year students going into their weeks. Although socially distant, the hands-on ap-
final year as well as fourth-year students who were
soon to graduate. In total, six graduate student plication still highlighted the experience of under-
teaching assistants led six teams of undergradu-
ates totaling about 40 students. Overall, the camp graduates. Field camp provided great opportuni-

ties for students to apply geophysical methods

that professors described in their courses. Above

all, students were happy to safely be together do-

ing science after being separated for such a long

time. — Contributed by David Churchwell

9

2021 Field Camp: Seismic Acquisition Experiments

This year, the Geophysics Department once again a
partnered with Geophysical Technology, Inc. and
Dawson Geophysical Company to conduct seis- b Iga Pawelec
mic acquisition experiments during the field camp. Figure 1: (a) Gradient array design (Δx=Δy=0.25 m)
and (b) image of the deployed array
Experiment 1

The seismic survey included two dense 2D lines:
one with 2 m spacing for sources and receivers
and another one with 5 m spacing. We acquired
several experimental data sets for further research
on land seismic acquisition and processing.

In addition we acquired several experimental
datas sets with the potential for further research.

In our first experiment, we deployed 38 gradient
arrays with 10 m spacing using the array design
shown in Figure 1a. The simple cross allows for spa-
tial derivative estimation via finite differences. Our
goal was to use this design to increase the spacing
between sampling points and reconstruct dense
data, going beyond the traditional Shannon-
Nyquist sampling. While the data analysis is prelimi-
nary, comparing the inline and crossline gradients
(Figure 2) reveals that there are significant differ-
ences in the wavefields depending on the obser-
vation direction. Our future investigation will focus
on understanding these differences and finding
ways to use spatial derivative data for data recon-
struction and noise suppression.

a bc
Figure 2: (a) Data from the central geophone of the gradient array, and (b) inline derivative and (c) crossline
derivative.

10 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

Figure 3: Amplitude spectrum of the reference sweep and the average ground force output.

Experiment 2

Our second experiment aimed to investigate the the amplitude spectrum of the pilot sweep and
repeatability of Vibroseis sources and quantify the the average ground force signal. The decreased
changes in subsurface properties resulting from force output for 12-22 Hz is particularly intriguing
ground compaction. We positioned the sources and has been confirmed by nearby geophones. In
next to the denser line and repeated the same future work, we will analyze how that diminished
sweep 200 times. Rather than relying on the pilot output evolves as a function of sweep number
sweep, we saved the ground force signal estimate and what changes occur in near surface proper-
computed from the accelerations measured on ties over the course of 200 sweeps.
the baseplate and reaction mass. Figure 3 shows

ab
Figure 4 (a) Star array geometry for analyzing near-surface scattering. (b) Betsy gun shot data panels corresponding to
the four lines forming the star array on plot (a).

Experiment 3 a Betsy gun impulsive source. The discontinuity in
the first data panel indicates the presence of shal-
In our final experiment we deployed a star array low heterogeneity in the middle of the array, while
whose aim was to assess and quantify directional the irregular sampling and offset range limit the
near surface heterogeneity and scattering. Since available analysis tools. We will repeat a similar
much energy generated by the seismic source is experiment with higher sampling at future field ses-
trapped in the near surface, we sought to evaluate sions.
its directional transmission and characterize the sub- Experimental data acquisition is a growing com-
surface volume in the vicinity of the source. Armed ponent of each field session. While we continue to
with 64 nodes, we designed the star array depicted collect conventional line data, we also encour-
in Figure 4(a), to quantify wave behavior at short age thinking outside the box and challenging the
wavelengths in the near source region. Given the assumptions about geophysical data acquisition
limited number of sensors, we had variable sam- and processing. This trend is likely to continue, and
pling along the lines forming the star, with the dens- experiments will evolve as additional equipment is
est sampling at the center and sparsest at the edg- brought to the field. — Contributed by Iga Pawelec
es. Figure 4(b) shows example data recorded using
11

Explorations in Distributed
Acoustic Sensing (DAS)

As any geophysicist knows, seismic waves are hydrophone, or even microphone. Yes, we have

one of the primary proxies for studying processes even listened to DAS-recorded music!

in the Earth and its structure. They can be used to A DAS interrogator converts a standard telecom-

resolve large-scale structures in the core, mantle, munications single mode glass fiber into thousands

and crust, as well as much smaller-scale structures of extremely sensitive acoustic and vibration sen-

such as fault zones or hydrocarbon reservoirs. Seis- sors. The interrogator connected to one end of the

mic waves are also the primary tool in under- fiber uses a laser generator to send thousands of

standing the mechanisms that govern earthquake short pulses of light into the fiber every second. As

generation and their link to the Earth’s structure the light travels in the fiber, it is reflected back from

and dynamic processes. A seismic study can be fiber imperfections in a process known as Rayleigh

either active, in which human-generated sources Backscattering. Vibrations from the surrounding

are used, or passive, in which the naturally occur- environment will disturb the fiber and cause differ-

ring background seismic field is recorded. ences in the reflections that will then be observed

One problem with using seismic waves is that by the DAS interrogator. The actual measurement

seismic sensors can be expensive, challenging that is recorded is the amount of strain change on

and time consuming to deploy. This is why Distrib- the fiber at any particular location, which can

uted Acoustic Sensing (DAS) has been gaining then be converted to a particle velocity similar to

popularity for both industry and academic pur- that measured by traditional geophones. Howev-

poses for studies including surface and borehole er, unlike geophones measuring at predetermined

applications. DAS offers an

exciting type of seismic meas-

urement that provides both

high spatial and temporal res-

olutions and can record dense

seismic data over tens of kilo-

meters, as well as record high-

fidelity seismic signals with

wavelengths as short as a few

meters. All of this is done with

a single fiber and an interro-

gator. Moreover, DAS is sensi-

tive not only to seismic signals,

but to a wide frequency

range of strain-change signals

across more than 17 octaves

from submillihertz to more than

100 kilohertz. Thus, depending

on application and frequency

range of interest, DAS can be Aleksei Titov
treated as tensometer, broad- Real-time footstep tracking with temporary fiber cable installation on

band seismometer, geophone, Kafadar Commons during “Introduction to distributed fiber optic sensing class”.

12 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

Anna Titova

Connecting two silica glass optical fibers using electrical arc (fusion splicing) during Geophysics Field Camp 2021.

discrete points, DAS utilizes the entire fiber to take the City of Arvada for a passive monitoring exer-
distributed measurements. The optical fiber IS the cise.
sensing element!
The RCP group is dedicated to understanding
The Geophysics department is fortunate to have the value of the fiber for other applications includ-
faculty and students who are experts in the DAS ing Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) and Dis-
technology as well as two interrogators for use in tributed Strain Sensing (DSS), which collectively
seismic and other experiments. They have been with DAS are called Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing
and are continually working on applying this excit- (DFOS). The applications of these technologies in-
ing technology to the problems we see in the clude time-lapse VSP, tube-wave analyses, micro-
field, as well as to what new opportunities come seismic analyses, and even flow monitoring.
with the new technologies.
In the spring semester of 2022 the department
Projects in the Geophysics Department imple- will welcome Assistant Professor Eileen Martin, who
menting DAS data range from vertical seismic pro- will bring her expertise to the department, as she
filing (VSP) data from the North Slope of Alaska has worked with several DFOS systems in the past
and the Gulf of Mexico to surface recorded data and continues to work with DAS projects.
in Colorado (including one professor's back yard),
to other short-term surface arrays for both active Mines Geophysics is proud to be a leader in this
and passive exploration. One can even transform exciting technology and on the cutting edge of
telecommunications fiber-optic cables that al- new research. —Contributed by Aaron Girard
ready exist into dense seismic arrays. One project
is even proposing to use the fiber infrastructure in

13

Reconnecting in 2021

Geophysics Alumni Reunion

Alumni, faculty, students and staff Iga Pawelec
reconnected this fall at the first
Geophysics Department Reunion. wake. Some, however, have discovered a previ-
Meeting over the September 25th- ously unrecognized sense to grow together as a
26th weekend, the event offered community - one that has experienced the similar
a chance for both a friendly reun- wonders, difficulties, and growth of Mines Geo-
ion and an opportunity to physics in some way. It was this that came out to
strengthen the bonds between all, in some sort of manner, at these events. Every
past and present as the depart- story - whether it was a memory from an old class,
ment prepares for a future of or a tale describing the fun students would have
growth and change. after work-days of field session - brought to the
According to Department Head fore how each and every graduate had recog-
Paul Sava, the “Department's con- nized the community they had, and still have, af-
nections to the world is through its ter graduating from Mines Geophysics. Conversing
graduates and alumni which fuel over drinks simply provided the atmosphere in
the continuum of the depart- which it was manifest. Mines Geophysics provided
ment.” Thus, Sava said, the reun- the link.
ion was important for building the intergenera- As the happy hours closed and people headed
tional community of Mines geophysicists, espe- towards the dinner, what stuck in the air was a
cially after such a long period of isolation. sense of thankfulness for people being together
again. It seemed like a long lost sense, especially
Happy Hours after a pandemic that has changed the course of
in-person gathering. However, it was showcased in
The reunion weekend kicked off with alumni full-force for all Mines Geophysics alumni at the
happy hours. There were three different locations happy hours.
- The Eddy Hotel and Taproom, Golden City
Brewery, and Mountain Toad - that hosted happy
hours for three different alumni groups - pre–1990,
1990–2010, and 2011–2021.
People were thrilled to be together once again.
Smiles and laughs were spreading around the
tables, and the usual questions were asked in or-
der to catch up with one another: Where are you
working? What are you researching? What are
you up to now? However, it was not these ques-
tions that defined the mood for the happy hours.
It became clear that one common thread was
lining its way throughout the evening for every-
body: the strength of community.
The COVID-19 pandemic shook the globe and
caused in-person social gatherings to cease in its

14 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

Dinner change that must happen after “seeing below”,

The reunion dinner was the main event to bring people must be willing to recognize what ele-

the intergenerational group together to celebrate ments of work/research are unhelpful and act ac-

Mines Geophysics. The dinner did not just highlight cordingly. Not only that, but people should have

where Mines Geophysics had been, but pointed inner strength and bravery to face the daunting

the department towards the future. challenges of today while maintaining humility

This was a theme brought up by Department and responsibility for promoting equality and

Head, Dr. Paul Sava, during his remarks. Sava healthy relationships (with other people and one’s

walked through critical crossroads facing the de- own work). As Mines Geophysics forges ahead

partment and how it was during these trying times into the future, Gonzales’ vision is that the depart-

that they realized change was not only necessary ment should be a haven for growth and innova-

but paramount. Such change would not only tion in the midst of the grand challenges that

keep MInes Geophysics up-to-date with recent plague the world.

technological innovations and research but would After Gonzales’ speech, Society of Student Geo-

also allow the department to fully realize itself as a physicists (SSG) President Michael Field and Socie-

community for all potential

students, regardless of back-

ground or interest. Sava

highlighted changes such as

a new department-wide

curriculum, more interdisci-

plinary collaboration, and

increased diversity within

faculty, staff, and students.

Sava stressed the change is

ongoing, but it is necessary

to maximize Mines Geophys-

ics’ full potential.

Similar themes were em-

phasized by the evening’s

keynote speaker, Katerina

Gonzales. Gonzales, a 2015

Geophysics alum, put to-

gether a vision for geophys- Iga Pawelec
ics and its ability to illuminate Alumni standup during an interactive portion of the evening.

the complex, deep rooted problems that are pre- ty of Graduate Geophysics Students (SGGS) Vice

sent in today’s society. She said it is critical for all to President Brett Bernstein took the podium to get

recognize the usefulness in, “seeing below,” which the audience moving, asking the audience to

could mean seeing below the earth, seeing below stand up and sit down in response to a series of

the surface of a simple problem to truly under- questions. SGGS pint glasses were handed out to

stand the complex nature of things, or seeing be- the oldest alum present and the alum who trav-

neath the surface of a friend to check in on their eled the furthest distance to attend the dinner

emotional wellness. This lets people establish a that evening.

broader viewpoint that might open more minds Overall, the reunion dinner was successful in bring-

and establish more empathy in the beholder. ing together Mines Geophysics alumni and current

Gonzales told the audience that people must also faculty, staff, and students and promoting a vision

have the courage to act on these newfound for Mines Geophysics that is pioneering and inspir-

broader perspectives. In order to implement the ing.

15

Hike/Kafadar/Tours

Sunday was a beautiful morning for alumni activi- geophysical methods, they had to find the loca-
ties. At 9 am a group of about 10 alumni set out tion of certain objects buried in the Kafadar Ge-
on a hike up South Table Mountain. Along with the ophysics underground laboratory. The methods
hike, small groups participated in campus tours to used were hammer seismic, GPR, and a magne-
reminisce and reflect on how much the campus tometer. People of all ages and even outside of
has changed over the years. Many alumni agreed the reunion stopped by to test some of the
that despite the recent frenzy of building and re- equipment. One of the student volunteers ex-
modeling on campus, two things have remained plained how “The scavenger hunt is a great way
the same: the lack of air conditioning in the Trads, for the alumni to use what they learned during
and the Green Center basement. During the walk their time here at Mines while also being able to
through the Green Center basement several al- test out some of today's new technologies.”
ums recognized their common experiences. It was Overall, Sunday’s attendance was smaller than
difficult to make it past two rooms without having Saturday’s but the enthusiasm and love for geo-
someone share a memory of doing research in at physics was equally great.
least one of them. In the radiation room, 2018 The weekend's events were amazing for many
graduate Mandy Schindler reflected on her senior participants including 1992 graduate Rob Elliott
project saying, “I practically used to live in this who said, “It is so great to be able to see every-
room my senior year.” She even took a couple one again.” Having everyone together for the
selfies with the machines as if they were old first time was a sweet light at the end of a dark
friends. two-year tunnel and the beginning of a beauti-
On Kafadar commons, alums put their geophysi- ful new Mines geophysics tradition. — Contribut-
cal knowledge to the test. Using three different ed by David Churchwell and Chloe Locke

Iga Pawelec

16 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

Alumni/Students’ Favorite Memories

Peter Papazian ’79 Mandy Schindler ‘18

Favorite Memory: Favorite Memory: Going
Field camp in for after work beers with
Sawatch and the her research group
lovely basement of
the Green Center

Favorite Kurang Mehta ‘08
Memory:
Mines being Favorite Memory: Hanging
such a out in Higher Grounds and
great place talking about geophysics
to be, mak- with classmates
ing a lot of
international Terrill Ray ‘90
friends, and
learning a Favorite Memory: The great
ton group of people in the ge-
ophysics department, field-
Gerardo Garcia ‘91 camp in Fairplay, and the
theory of fields class
Hannah Flamme
‘17, ‘21 Favorite Memory: The
sense of community and
Favorite Memory: how the professors al-
The sense of com- ways make time for their
munity and how all students and are always
the grad students willing to chat
want to help each
other and know Andréa Darrh ‘23
what other stu-
dents are doing

—Contributed by Chloe Locke

17

Workshop Series: “Teaching with a Heart”

Over the summer, Dr. Roel Snieder taught a four-part workshop series called “Teaching with a Heart”. The
workshops were aimed at helping instructors in higher education to create a compassionate and nurtur-
ing classroom environment. Dr. Snieder taught the series with Cynthia James and Dr. Qin Zhu. Ms. James
is a world-renowned speaker, author, minister, and transformational coach who focuses on emotional
integration. Dr. Zhu is an assistant professor in ethics and engineering education at Mines. The series con-
sisted of the following workshops:

1. How do you show up in the classroom and why does it matter?
2. Bringing authenticity and compassion into the classroom,
3. Supporting your student emotionally, and
4. Developing intention and attention.

The workshop series was attended by 16 teachers from Mines, Red Rocks Community College, the Univer-
sity of Illinois, and the University of Tennessee. The series was evaluated very positively, with one partici-
pant saying:

“Through the course of our two weeks together I had more ideas for how to adjust and reorganize
and rethink my classroom than I have had in the past two years. The focus on mental, spiritual,
and academic health was truly inspiring and unique. Too often, professors do their job in isolation
and this can lead to stagnation on the part of the educator and the student; this course helps to
rethink and reform our approaches to teaching by creating healthy relationships to work, to each
other, and to our students.”

As part of his role of Professor in Professional Development Education, Dr. Snieder and his co-workers will
continue developing material for the Teaching with a Heart workshops, and expand the audience to
which this type of training is offered.

Roel Snieder Cynthia James Qin Zhu
18 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

SGGS Kicks Off Fall Running

The Society of Geophysics Graduate Students and has several autumn-themed celebrations
(SGGS) started Fall 2021 running! Although this past planned, including celebrating National Dessert
year brought significant challenges to graduate Day with pizza and a surprise dessert treat and
student events, SGGS stuck to its core mission of Halloween with a pumpkin carving and lunch
bringing grad students together and building ca- event!
maraderie between research groups. The academ- For fans of the Geophysics pint glass, SGGS will
ic year started with officer elections and every grad be releasing Geophysics merchandise for both
student’s true passion, food! The 2021-2022 SGGS the office and the chilly autumn! SGGS is looking
officers are made up of both first-year and current forward to hosting many more events this semes-
students from various research groups. ter. We hope to see you there!
SGGS has resumed bi-weekly student happy hours
2021-2022 Officers:

Student • President: Gavin Wilson
Organizations • Vice President: Brett Bernstein
• Treasurer: Iga Pawelec
• Social Media Chair: Rosie Zhu
• Social Chairs: Mari Held, Tomas

Snyder, David Churchwell

SSG Sets Big Plans for Fall Semester

SSG has big plans for the Fall semester. According 2021-2022 Officers:
to president Michael Field, the group is “hoping to
take part in a classroom takeover program to con- • President - Michael Field
duct labs remotely in K-12 classrooms to promote • Vice President - Cash Koning
geophysics at Mines and diversity in STEM.” In addi- • Treasurer - Seunghoo Kim
tion the group is hosting some department volley- • Secretary - Danielle vonLembke
ball games, as well as a great lineup of speakers
including new Assistant Professor Eileen Martin, Plan-
etary Institute Senior Scientist and Mines Geophysi-
cal Engineering alum Nathanial Putzig, and The
Ohio State University Associate Professor Ann Cook.
SSG is also excited to announce their new officers.

19

Research Roundup

Department research projects funded through grants and contracts reflect a breadth of research
interests and collaborations. Below is a list of such projects currently underway in the department.

Research Begun in 2021 Project: Collaborative Research: Shragge
Investigating four decades of Ross Funding agency: National Science
Project: Creating CO2 storage ca- Ice Shelf subsurface change with Foundation
pacity maps for the Colorado historical and modern radar Amount: $49,417
State Land Board surface estate sounding data Project description: This project will
PI: Manika Prasad PI: Matthew Siegfried use geophysical surveys to increase
Funding agency: Colorado State Funding agency: National Sci- our understanding of coastal fresh-
Land Board ence Foundation water resources by characterizing
Amount: $51,238 Amount: $317,470 the sedimentary layering in the
Project description: This project will Project description: This project, coastal environment.
assess the suitability of Colorado led by Georgia Institute of Tech-
public lands for carbon sequestra- nology and in collaboration with Project: Investigating groundwater
tion. Stanford University, exploits nearly flow, submarine groundwater dis-
half a century of historic film and charge, and slope stability on the
Project: Collaborative Research: modern digital radar observations Atlantic continental slope offshore
Frameworks: Seismic COmputa- over Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Massachusetts, New England, USA
tional Platform for Empowering Ross Ice Shelf provides resistance PI: Brandon Dugan
Discovery (SCOPED) to the outflow of numerous large Funding agency: International
PIs: Ebru Bozdag and non-Mines outlet glaciers and ice streams Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)
collaborators listed below that drain both the East and West Project description: This project will
Funding agency: National Science Antarctic ice sheets, and these use scientific drilling, in situ meas-
Foundation comprehensive radar surveys col- urements, laboratory experiments,
Amount: $613,000 lected since the 1970s provide and numerical modeling to en-
Project description: The goal of insight into the structural integrity hance our understanding of the
SCOPED is to establish a novel hy- of Ross Ice Shelf as well as ongo- relations between fluid flow and
brid cloud+HPC computational ing ice-shelf processes that drive seafloor seepage, which has impli-
platform for use by the broader large-scale ice sheet evolution cations for slope stability, ocean
scientific community that com- like basal melting and refreezing. chemistry, biological diversity, and
bines large-scale processing and ecosystems services.
modeling of seismic data with a Project: Drone detection and
suite of open-source seismic mapping of flowlines Project: Managing frac hits to re-
codes. Education and training of PI: Yaoguo Li duce environmental impacts and
the new generation of seismolo- Funding agency: Leidos improve resource stewardship
gists with desired computational Amount: $43,758 PI: Dr. Ge Jin
skills to operate big data and Project description: Feasibility of Funding agency: Department of
HPC/Cloud computing are also flow line detection and charac- Energy: National Energy Technolo-
one of the main goals of SCOPED terization using drone-based gy Laboratory
to facilitate the continuation of magnetic data: The project inves- Amount: $42,519
research and scientific discoveries. tigates the feasibility of and meth- Project description: The project
The SCOPED team includes Carl odology for detecting and char- uses computer vision to identify
Tape (the University of Alaska Fair- acterizing flow lines in the oil field frac-hit precursors in the low-
banks), Marine Denolle (the Uni- using magnetic data measured frequency DAS data in real time, so
versity of Washington Seattle), Felix from drone platform and ma- we can protect parent wells from
Waldhauser (Columbia University chine-learning methods. being damaged by child well com-
Lamont), Ian Wang (the Texas Ad- pletion in unconventional reser-
vanced Computing Center & the Project: Seismic and hydrostrati- voirs.
University of Texas Austin), and Dr. graphic characterization of the
Bozdag. SCOPED officially started onshore-offshore freshwater sys- Project: Decarbonizing the Inter-
in September 2021 and will be ac- tems of Martha’s Vineyard and mountain West
tive for four years. Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA PI: Manika Prasad
PIs: Brandon Dugan, Jeffrey Funding agency: National Energy

20 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

Technology Laboratory (NETL) Existing Risks to Pipeline Integrity external needs and internal capa-
Amount: $250,000 PIs: Ge Jin, Yilin Fan, Ali Tura, and bilities. The learnings and out-
Project description: This project is Jennifer Miskimins comes will be conveyed to on-
part of NETL’s CarbonSAFE pro- Funding agency: Department of campus colleagues across all
ject and will address energy chal- Transportation campus disciplines.
lenges by developing a regional Amount: $665,370
technology roadmap to transition Project description: The project is Project: #22: Geophysical imaging
the Intermountain West to a car- expected to provide economi- at Majes I and Majes II for geolo-
bon neutral and economically cal solutions that use distributed gy, water, cemented subsoils, and
sustainable energy system within acoustic sensing (DAS) for pipe- landslide risk
the next 15 years. line long-term, real-time monitor- PIs: Richard Krahenbuhl, Yaoguo
ing. Li, Jeffrey Shragge, Brandon
Project: The enigmatic surface of Dugan
Bennu: Using OSIRIS-REx data to Project: Collaborative Research: Funding agency: Universidad
calibrate ground-based radar Characterizing controls on post- Nacional de San Agustin de Are-
observations of near-Earth aster- fire steepland ravel - when does quipa - UNSA
oids (NEAs) bioturbation go too far for diffu- Amount: $780,001
PI: Dylan Hickson sive models? Project description: This project is
Funding agency: National Aero- PI: Danica Roth the second phase of our initial suc-
nautics and Space Administration Funding agency: National Sci- cessful geophysical investigations
(NASA) ence Foundation at the major agricultural develop-
Amount: $461,599 Amount: $349,920 ment of Majes I in southern Peru to
Project description: High- Project description: This project better understand the broader 3D
resolution radar scattering simula- will use a novel combination of distribution of geology and sub-
tions are being performed using short-lived radionuclide analysis, surface water movement as they
data of NEA 101955 that Bennu high-resolution topographic data relate to increased landslide haz-
obtained by NASA's OSIRIS-REx and physical measurements to ards. This study will help develop
sample return mission. The pur- calibrate and conduct the first decision-support tools for water
pose is to better understand the field test of a convolutional sedi- use, land use and landslide risk as-
processes on the unique surfaces ment flux model on long- sessment. The second component
NEAs possess. This research is a distance sediment transport after of the project is to perform a fo-
collaboration between University wildfire in California. cused, near-surface geophysical
of Arizona, University of Helsinki, survey over a test-bed at the fu-
University of Florida and Mines. Ongoing Projects ture Majes II agricultural develop-
Mines Geophysics undergraduate ment to understand the general
Amanda Camarata is also work- Project: Mines multidisciplinary distribution and properties of the
ing on this project. academic-industry consortium - shallow cemented subsoils
redefining academic-industry- (caliche) that must be identified
Project: Leveraging ICESat-2 al- agency consortia for the coming and broken up prior to develop-
timetry for Antarctic subglacial decade ment, irrigation and cultivation.
lake identification, evolution, and PI: Brandon Dugan
basal properties Funding agency: Colorado Project: Observationally con-
PI: Matthew Siegfried School of Mines strained simulations of the evolu-
Funding agency: NASA Amount: $15,000 tion of polar snow using a multi-
Amount: $334,837 Project description: This project sensor approach
Project description: This project has a primary goal to develop a PI: Matthew Siegfried
funds Dr. Siegfried’s work which is revitalized consortium model that Funding agency: NASA Goddard
part of NASA's ICESat-2 Mission feeds into a new multidisciplinary Space Flight Center
Science Team to use ICESat-2 la- consortium between energy Amount: $157,520
ser altimetry to generate high companies, geoscientists, and Project description: This project,
precision maps of surface-height petroleum engineers at Mines. led by the NASA Goddard Space
change across the Antarctic ice The research team is gathering Flight Center and in collaboration
sheet that provide windows into input from companies and feder- with University of Colorado-
subglacial water systems. al and state agencies to discuss Boulder, University of Maryland-
all options for a 21st century con- College Park, University of Oregon,
Project: Easy Deployed Distribut- sortium model. The team will inte- and University of Washington, aims
ed Acoustic Sensing System for grate the response to put forth to fill in an urgent gap in our un-
Remotely Assessing Potential and the “best” option based on our derstanding of Earth’s atmosphere

21

-ice-ocean interactions by pro- pingo-like features on other plan- ence Foundation
ducing observationally con- etary bodies may provide a histo- Amount: $269,000
strained models of all stages of the ry of water elsewhere in the solar Project description: Earth's outer
life cycle of snow over ice sheets. system and represent potential core is molten iron, plus roughly
To develop these models, the resource deposits for future ex- 10% of a lighter alloying material.
team is leveraging several unique plorers. We are investigating pin- With a radius that is slightly larger
satellite measurements, comple- go systems in the Alaskan and than the planet Mars, the core sits
mentary existing airborne and in Canadian Arctic with a variety of ~2900 km below Earth's surface.
situ measurements, global atmos- ground-based geophysical tech- The fluid outer core holds high im-
pheric modeling, mass and energy niques, including ground pene- portance for a number of reasons,
balance modeling, and process trating radar, time domain elec- including the generation of Earth's
modeling. tromagnetic, and capacitively magnetic field, and being an im-
coupled resistivity, as well as portant mechanism to transfer
Project: Constraining West Antarc- space borne radar imaging. heat to the mantle, which helps to
tic snow accumulation and firn drive the convective engine re-
densification processes with GNSS Project: WAIS Workshops 2020 sponsible for plate tectonics. This
reflectometry and 2021: A transdisciplinary fo- project tests commonly used
PI: Matthew Siegfried rum to accelerate NASA-funded methods, corrections, and approx-
Funding agency: NASA research of marine-based ice imations to investigate the region
Amount: $315,899 sheet systems AND 2019-2021 and ultimately move towards full-
Project description: This project, WAIS Workshops: A transdiscipli- waveform modeling to improve
led by Mines and in collaboration nary forum for studies of the West the models and our understanding
with NASA Goddard Space Flight Antarctic Ice Sheet and the next of the outermost part of the outer
Center, uses GPS signals emitted generation of polar scientists core. PhD student Reynaldo Vite
from orbit as signals of opportunity (Two separate grants) Sanchez and Post-doctoral fellow
to produce time series of net snow PI: Matthew Siegfried Dr. Neala Creasy also work on this
accumulation across Antarctica in Funding agency: NASA and NSF project.
order to validate atmospheric cli- Amount: $77,245, $123,524
mate models and firn compaction Project description: The West Ant- Project: Collaborative Research:
physics. We will also push the de- arctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Work- Calibrating quartz fabric intensity
velopment of this GPS interfero- shops, held over the past quarter as a function of strain magnitude:
metric reflectometry method to century, have been a key venue a field-based investigation in the
test the limits of its space and time for transdisciplinary scientific ex- Snake Range core complex, Ne-
resolution. change on the state and behav- vada
ior of WAIS, processes that influ- PI: Jeffrey Lee
Project: Pingo SubTerranean Aqui- ence its change, and projections Funding agency: NSF
fer Reconnaissance and Recon- of its future mass balance and Amount: $82,641
struction (Pingo STARR) sea-level contribution. The com- Project description: This project
PIs: Matthew Siegfried, John Brad- munity-based structure of the quantifies the relationship be-
ford, Andrei Swidinsky (Mines affili- workshops brings together stu- tween finite strain and kinematics
ated faculty) dents, early-career, and senior by generating a calibration equa-
Funding agency: Georgia Institute scientists who are investigating tion that expresses fabric intensity
of Technology WAIS using ground-based and of quartz crystallographic fabric
Amount: $445,961 shipborne methods, airborne ge- data as a function of finite strain
Project description: This project, ophysics, satellite remote-sensing, magnitude. This calibration cen-
led by Cornell University and in and numerical modeling all un- ters on the Prospect Mountain
collaboration with University of der the same roof to answer diffi- quartzite, which is well-exposed
Alaska Anchorage and Planetary cult, but essential questions re- within the well-characterized, Ce-
Science Institute, uses poorly inves- garding the fate of WAIS and nozoic extensional shear zone in
tigated ice-cored hills in the Arctic other marine-based ice sheets. the Northern Snake Range meta-
called "pingos" as an analog to morphic core complex, Neva-
understand potentially similar geo- Project: Towards improved imag- da.The project provides an im-
morphic features on Mars and ing of the outermost core portant opportunity to quantify
Ceres. Pingos on Earth are im- through determination of the ef- strain localization within the deep-
portant indicators of extant and fects of lowermost mantle hetero- ly exhumed portions of any oro-
extinct near-surface groundwater geneity and anisotropy gen, which is essential for charac-
systems, hydrological properties, PI: Ebru Bozdag terizing the dynamics and rheolog-
and local climate, and therefore Funding agency: National Sci- ical evolution of deforming litho-

22 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

sphere. The project is in collabora- search and educational activities, toring using electromagnetic geo-
tion with Prof Sean Long, Washing- constructed models together with physical methods: The project in-
ton State University, and his PhD data from other disciplines are be- vestigates the feasibility of moni-
student Nolan Blackford. ing used to design an interactive, toring CO2 storage in saline for-
collaborative Earth model, SPAC- mations by carrying out numerical
Project: Planetary orbital radar MAN (Slabs, Plumes And Convec- simulations of responses in such
processing and simulation system tion in MANtle), for visualization in scenarios when using active- and
PIs: Paul Sava, Nathaniel Putzig virtual and augmented reality en- passive-source electromagnetic
(Planetary Science Institute) vironments and planetariums. The methods.
Research associate: Dylan Hickson collaboration with the Denver Mu-
Funding agency: NASA seum of Nature & Science will Project: MARSIS 3D imaging
Amount: $178,680 reach a range of age groups from PIs: Paul Sava, Frederick Foss
Project description: With the num- children to adults, educating them (Freestyle Analytical & Quantita-
ber of radar instruments flown on on the interior of our planet and its tive Services (FREAQS), LLC)
space missions increasing, devel- dynamics while promoting STEM Research associate: Dylan Hickson
oping open-source software to fields. PhD student Rachel Willis Funding agency: NASA
process and simulate acquired works on this project. Amount: $262,734
data is essential. This project aims Project description: The Mars Ad-
to develop a general orbital radar Project: Imaging rock properties vanced Radar for Subsurface and
simulator and processor integrat- and CO2 density using gravity, EM, Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) in-
ed with a geographic information and seismic data AND quantita- strument onboard the European
system to enable improved analy- tive imaging of 4D pressure Space Agency's Mars Express Or-
sis of orbital radar datasets and changes using seismic data (Two biter has collected dense cover-
increase collaboration within the grants) age of radar sounding data over
planetary science community. PIs: Manika Prasad, Jyoti Behura the polar regions of Mars since
Funding agency: Department of launching in 2003. This project uses
Project: CAREER: (An) elastic man- Energy 3D wavefield imaging techniques
tle structure based on 3D wave Amount: $400,914, $466,953 to produce the first properly im-
simulations & full waveform inver- Project description: The SMART ini- aged 3D volumes of the north and
sion: From GLobal ADjoint models tiative is a ten-year, multi- south polar ice caps on Mars from
to visualization of Slabs, Plumes organizational effort with the goal MARSIS data.
And Convection in MANtle (SPAC- of transforming interactions within
MAN) the subsurface and significantly Project: Carbon Utilization and
PI: Ebru Bozdag improving efficiency and effec- Storage Partnership (CUSP) for the
Funding agency: National Science tiveness of field-scale carbon stor- Western USA
Foundation age and unconventional oil and PI: Ali Tura
Amount: $620,000 gas operations. Prasad and Funding agency: Department of
Project description: Advances in Behura along with Mathias Pohl, Energy
supercomputers and numerical Hua Wang (Dept. of Mathematics Amount: $350,000
methods, together with the in- and Computing), and Yaoguo Li Project description: This multi-year
crease in the quality and amount are researching the development project involves collaboration with
of seismic data in recent years, and application of machine learn- 13 states. The overall project ob-
have provided new opportunities ing algorithms to overcome the jective is to implement a regional
to improve the resolution of tomo- challenges posed by the lack of initiative in order to accelerate
graphic images based on 3D nu- massive amounts of data in geo- onshore CCUS technology deploy-
merical wave simulations. This pro- physical applications. More infor- ment in the Western Region of the
ject images the attenuation struc- mation about the project can be United States.
ture of the mantle through simulta- found at https://edx.netl.doe.gov/
neous elastic and anelastic full- smart/ . Project: Ambient seismic imaging
waveform inversions. Furthermore, and model building
to improve the global data cover- Project Title: Feasibility simulations PI: Jeffrey Shragge
age, specifically underneath of EM monitoring of CO2 storage Post-doctoral fellow: Aaron Girard
oceans, we explore assimilating PI: Yaoguo Li Funding agency: ExxonMobil Up-
emerging data sets in full- Funding Agency: Department of stream Research Company
waveform inversions, such as those Energy Amount: $164,468
from acoustic floating robots MER- Amount: $76,740 Project description: Long-time seis-
MAIDs. To facilitate effective ex- Project description: Numerical fea- mic recordings are becoming
ploration of Earth's mantle for re- sibility study of CO2 storage moni- more common with the increased

23

use of ocean bottom nodes www.isc.ac.uk/iscbulletin/ geodynamics of the planet. In ad-
(OBNs), which allow for the use of search/catalogue/) arrival-time dition to classical seismological
ambient seismic wavefields at sub data in joint seismic inversions. methods and tools, we also get
1.5 Hz frequencies lower than the The final stage of the project is help from 2D/3D numerical seis-
typical minimum values in active- dedicated to performing full- mic wave simulations.
source surveys. This project in- waveform inversion to iteratively
volves an ambient waveform inter- construct the elastic model of Project Title: Exploring submarine
ferometry study involving 2014 the target area with constraints slope failures with seismic data
OBNs deployed on the Gulf of from the ISC catalog. and physical laboratory experi-
Mexico seafloor that recovers usa- ments
ble coherent surface waves as low Project: High resolution 3D imag- PIs: Brandon Dugan, Paul Sava
as 0.3 Hz that exhibit strong sensi- ing of SHARAD data Funding agency: National Sci-
tivity to large-scale features in- PI: Paul Sava ence Foundation
cluding salt bodies. This study sug- Research associate: Dylan Hick- Amount: $291,949
gests that low-frequency ambient son Project Description: This project
OBN data could be very useful for Funding agency: NASA integrates laboratory and numeri-
building long-wavelength starting Amount: $522,288 cal models to develop a process-
models for elastic full waveform Project description: Expanding based understanding of subma-
inversion. on recent development of 3D rine slope failures as a function of
models of the north and south initial conditions and driving
Project: Full-waveform inversion of polar ice caps on Mars derived mechanisms.
the Iranian plateau and its sur- from data obtained by the Shal-
rounding region incorporating ISC low Radar (SHARAD) onboard
arrival-time data NASA's Mars Reconnaissance
PI: Ebru Bozdag Orbiter, this project aims to en-
Post-doctoral fellow: Ridvan Orsvu- hance the resolution of these
ran models by incorporating state-of-
Funding agency: Air Force Re- the-art 3D wavefield imaging
search Laboratory technology and newer data.
Amount: $346,000
Project description: High-resolution Project: Investigation of Mars’
present-day snapshots of Earth's interior based on 3D simulations
interior are essential for under- of seismic wave propagation
standing the past and present dy- PI: Ebru Bozdag
namics of the mantle, which Funding agency: NASA-JPL
shape the surface of our planet Amount: $424,000
through tectonic processes such Project description: Before the
as earthquakes and volcanic ac- NASA’s InSight Mars mission, most
tivities. Higher-resolution models knowledge on Mars' interior
are also crucial for better under- came from gravity and geo-
standing the source of earth- chemical analyses of a suite of
quakes, accurately locating them, basaltic achondrite meteorites
and from an engineering point of that are believed to have come
view, assessing seismic hazards from Mars. As part of the InSight
and detecting nuclear explosions. project, a geophysical lander,
This project's goal is to construct a including a very broadband seis-
detailed P- and S-wave structure mometer, deployed to the Mars
of the Middle East and its sur- surface. This has allowed seismol-
rounding area, including Anatolia ogists and planetary scientists to
and Caucasus, based on full- investigate the interior of another
waveform inversion for improving planetary body by seismic data
source parameters and location other than the Earth and the
of seismic events in the region. The Moon in our solar system. As part
team has performed a P-wave of the InSight project, we investi-
arrival-time tomography and set gate seismic data from InSight to
up a methodology to combine characterize seismic signals and
multiple datasets of seismic wave- constrain Mars' interior using
forms and ISC (International Seis- marsquakes to improve our un-
mological Center, http:// derstanding of the structure and

24 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU

Heiland Lecture Series

Lectures are open to the public and available via Zoom:
https://mines.zoom.us/j/97650641229

October 20
Dr. Earle Wilson

Post-doctoral fellow, Caltech

October 27
Dr. Roelof Snieder

Professor and Director of the Center for Wave Phenomena
Colorado School of Mines

November 3
Dr. Frederik J. Simons

Geoscience Professor and Associate Chair
of the Department of Geoscience
Princeton University

November 10
Dr. Mark Haynes

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech

November 17
Dr. John Bradford

Professor and Vice President for Global Initiatives
Colorado School of Mines

December 1
Benjamin Drenth, Research Scientist

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

25

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!

The Department of Geophysics is grateful for gifts and support from
alumni, friends of the Department, and corporate partners. Your support
helps us deliver many of the programs from which our students benefit,
including graduate and undergraduate fellowships and scholarships, op-
portunities for students to engage in professional development activities,
computing upgrades, department initiatives, and Field Camp.
If you are interested in making a gift to the Department of Geophysics or
sponsoring one of its programs, please contact the Mines Foundation
(303-273-3275) or weare.mines.edu/supportgeophysics.

26 GEOPHYSICS.MINES.EDU