Formal Launch of Multi-Society Drone Magnetics Guidelines - Free Webinar

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Date: 12 November 2022

Time: 7:00 AM Eastern U.S., GMT -5 hrs.

Description:

From agriculture to zoology, from Amazon to Walmart, uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) are finding use cases in a host of domestic and commercial applications worldwide. Geophysics is no exception. Filling an important niche between regional aerial surveys and detailed ground investigations, drone systems are developing rapidly in geophysics, building on existing survey design principles as well as innovation to overcome unique technical challenges.

In 2020, the inaugural Summit on Drone Geophysics identified the need for guidelines to support this rapid expansion in drone technology within the geophysical sector. A committee comprised of geoscience professional was formed with the self-appointed mission to develop a set of guidelines based on the belief that:

• All drone geophysics operators/contractors need to understand the basics of good data acquisition, geophysical data noise mitigation and principles of geophysical data reduction and processing.
• Drone geophysics comes with different technical and operational challenges for geoscientists whose experience and training are in ground or airborne geophysics
• Poor data quality will result in a poor reputation for the drone geophysical industry.
• Poor safety practices will result in incidents leading to the likelihood of restrictions placed on the operations conducted by responsible operators.
• The goal of the guidelines is to bring all drone geophysical practitioners up to the same standard of industry accepted best practices.

Several subcommittees were established, but it became clear that the task was a large one. So, priority was given to producing a Drone Magnetics Guidelines document, which will be followed by similar guidelines for other geophysical techniques, some of which are already in preparation.

Drone Magnetic Guidelines Launch Webinar Schedule:

• Welcome and introduction: The need for guidelines - Ron and Geoff (15 mins)
• Guidelines 1: Drone system configuration and survey safety - Ron (20 min)
• Guidelines 2: Survey design, tendering, acquisition, and QC - Paul (20 min)
• Guidelines 3: Compensation and processing - Rainer (20 min)
• Guidelines 4: Imaging and interpretation - Tim (20 min)
• Q&A – Expert panel (50 min)
• Wrap-up - Ron (5 min)

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Speaker Bios

Geoff Pettifer is a Technical Director – Hydrogeology and Geophysics in GHD, and Principal in Terra Entheos Geoscience. He has a Bachelor of Science from University of Melbourne, a Graduate Diploma (Applied Geophysics) from University of NSW and a Graduate Certificate Regional Community Development from Monash University. He has 50+ years specialised experience within Government geological surveys in Australia and overseas and in private consulting, with the practical application of almost all geophysical airborne, surface, marine and downhole geophysical methods to mining, groundwater, geotechnical, environmental, oil and gas and mineral resource assessment, CO2 sequestration, geothermal, salinity, soil mapping and bore geophysical logging and condition assessment projects. His consulting interests include sustainable groundwater usage, sustainable irrigation, sustainable mining and mine development, geotechnical, environmental investigations, remote sensing and international development assistance and community / stakeholder engagement. Geoff is a member of SEG, EEGS, ASEG, EAGE, IAH and AEG. He is Chair-Elect of SEG NSTS, co-Chair of the Near-Surface Geophysics Inter-Society Committee on UAV Geophysics Guidelines and a former Editor of EEGS FastTIMES and ASEG Preview magazines.

Ronald S. Bell is Senior geoDRONEologist, Drone Geoscience, LLC where after more than 30 years collecting, processing, visualizing, and interpreting ground magnetic and electromagnetic (EM) data, he has embarked on an investigation into the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for geophysical mapping in 2014. Beginning in 2016, he successfully executed numerous drone magnetic surveys for a broad number of use cases including precisely locating legacy oil and gas wells, detecting and delineating oil and gas undocumented assets, exploring for groundwater, mineral, and hydrocarbon resources. In 2020, he pivoted his attention to a drone enabled EM conductivity mapper, applying it so subsurface characterization site investigations. In 2022, he began deploying the EM61 Lite to map pipelines, underground storage tanks (USTs), and surrogate unexploded ordnance (UXO). He began his geophysics career soon after receiving a BS in Applied Geophysics from Michigan Technological University.

Tim Archer has worked as a commercial geophysicist for more than twenty-five years. He holds an Honors Degree in Geophysics from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Management Diploma from the University of Stellenbosch. Tim worked for Anglo American from 1994 to 2001, mainly with their SPECTREM airborne electromagnetic system. From 2004 to 2014, Tim owned and ran a geophysical contracting business in the UK, specializing in near- surface hazard detection. In 2014, he joined Reid Geophysics, a company which he now owns and manages, as well as providing non-seismic geophysical consultancy to mineral and energy explorers worldwide. Tim is an active member of EAGE, IAEG, PESGB and SEG. He is also a technical reviewer for Geophysical Prospecting and the Journal of Applied Geophysics.

Rainer Wackerle is a geophysicist with GeoIntrepid working from Windhoek in Namibia. Rainer obtained his MSc in geophysics from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, in 1991. After a few years in environmental/near surface geophysics, Rainer joined the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in Germany as member of a mineral exploration project jointly conducted by BGR and the Geological Survey of Namibia. He subsequently worked for the Geological Survey of Namibia, where he was responsible for all technical aspects of the Namibian High Resolution Airborne Geophysical Survey program. In 2008 Rainer joined GeoIntrepid as their African representative and is now mainly involved in the processing and QC of airborne geophysical data.

Paul Mutton graduated from Curtin University in 1994 with a BSc in Geophysics. He returned in 1996 to complete an additional Honours year with a project on measuring the magnetic field vector, after which he worked for Western Mining Corporation as a Mine Geophysicist. This principally involved extensive drillhole and surface EM and radar surveying. Paul left WMC in 1999 and after some travels, began working for Southern Geoscience Consultants as a Senior Geophysicist in project design, supervision, and interpretation. He became a consultant and partner for SGC after 2002 and continued to use a broad selection of survey techniques for base and precious metal projects in Australia and around the world. In 2014 he left SGC and began to work independently for his company Touchstone Geophysics. He has a broad interest in applied exploration geophysics & geology and enjoys the opportunities it offers to use new technology. He finds it personally interesting and satisfying to not just get great data, but to also to resolve the geological questions. He has published papers in the ASEG journal and presented at conferences and workshops on EM surveying, superparamagnetism, and case histories of discoveries he has been involved in. While mostly focused on EM-dominant projects, over the last 4 years he has been incorporating drone magnetic surveys some of which have produced exceptional data in very difficult terrain.

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