Seismic Soundoff

"For early career geophysicists, I think it's really important to understand that DAS is going to have a unique role in reservoir management, be it onshore or offshore."

Distributed acoustic sensing is opening new possibilities for how geophysicists collect and use seismic data. Ali Tura shares practical insights from his experience and highlights how these ideas will be explored further in his upcoming course on DAS applications. He explains how the technology’s sensitivity, wide frequency range, and cost advantages make it valuable, while also emphasizing the importance of understanding its limitations.

Learn more and register for the course (13-16 July 2026) at https://seg.org/shop/product/?id=product&id=ed9c4ebc-48dc-f011-8544-7c1e525cc2b5.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
> DAS sensitivity and bandwidth: DAS can detect extremely small signals across a very wide frequency range, making it useful for everything from geomechanics to seismic monitoring.
> Cost and operational efficiency: Using existing fiber optic infrastructure allows teams to run surveys at much lower cost, especially for repeated monitoring like 4D seismic or CO2 storage.
> Fit-for-purpose application: DAS is powerful but not universal, so success depends on choosing the right use case, deployment method, and survey design.

GUEST BIO
Ali Tura is Professor of Geophysics and Co-director of the Reservoir Characterization Project at Colorado School of Mines. His expertise is in the areas of petroleum systems, reservoir characterization and monitoring, seismic methods, CO2 and sequestration, fiber optics technology, and data analytics. He is also Chief Scientist at Tulip Geosciences, a geosciences consulting and training company. Before this, he was Geophysical Senior Fellow at ConocoPhillips, Geophysical Advisor at Chevron, and 4D subject matter expert at Shell. He has been an SEG member and active in the industry for more than 37 years and served as SEG Vice-president, Board of Directors of SEG-SEAM Inc., Chairman of the SEG Research Committee, Chairman of the Editorial Board of The Leading Edge, and Chairman of the SEG Global Affairs Committee.

ABOUT SEISMIC SOUNDOFF
Seismic Soundoff showcases conversations addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and hosted by Andrew Geary of 51 features, these episodes celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. Three new episodes monthly. See the full archive at https://seg.org/resources/podcast/.

“And what the world really needs is this flexibility on energy and the agility to ensure access and affordability. And that's where steering the offshore energy business is really critical.”

Offshore energy is evolving quickly as global demand grows and new technologies emerge across oil and gas, offshore wind, and other energy systems. Alex Martinez and Joe Reilly discuss why the Offshore Technology Conference remains one of the most important places for engineers, geoscientists, and industry leaders to collaborate and share ideas. OTC 2026 in Houston (4-7 May 2026) brings the full offshore energy community together to explore solutions that will shape a reliable and sustainable energy future.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
> Rising global energy demand is driving offshore innovation. Growing energy needs are pushing companies to improve efficiency and develop new technologies across both traditional offshore oil and gas and emerging energy solutions.
> OTC creates a unique space for cross-disciplinary collaboration. Experts from many technical fields come together to share ideas and solve complex offshore energy challenges.
> Geoscientists play an important role in the future of offshore energy. Understanding the subsurface remains critical for oil and gas, offshore wind, and carbon storage projects.

LINKS
* Learn more OTC '26 - https://2026.otcnet.org/
* Register for the event (4-7 May 2026) - https://2026.otcnet.org/registration

ABOUT SEISMIC SOUNDOFF
Seismic Soundoff showcases conversations addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and hosted by Andrew Geary of 51 features, these episodes celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. Three new episodes monthly. See the full archive at https://seg.org/resources/podcast/.

“It’s not only about discovering resources, but about safeguarding them and safeguarding our future. When you understand the subsurface, you understand the foundation of food security, water security, and environmental stability.”

Ahmed Elshenawy, SEG’s 2026 Middle East and Africa Honorary Lecturer, explores how geophysics can help solve some of today’s biggest challenges in agriculture and environmental management. In this conversation, he explains how imaging the shallow subsurface can reveal hidden patterns of soil moisture, salinity, and groundwater movement that shape farming success. His work shows how understanding what lies beneath our feet may be key to sustainable agriculture, climate resilience, and the future of food and water security.

Learn more about Ahmed's lecture and register for his 12 March webinar - https://seg.org/education/lectures/seg-honorary-lecture-ahmed-elshenawy/

KEY TAKEAWAYS
> Geophysical tools can map soil moisture, salinity, and subsurface conditions that directly affect agriculture and water management.
> The same methods used in energy and mineral exploration can support sustainability, land restoration, and climate adaptation.
> Students who combine geophysics with hydrology, soil science, and data science will find growing career opportunities in environmental and agricultural applications.

GUEST BIO
Since 2000, Ahmed has been involved as a research team member of several national, international, and private projects regarding the application of geophysical methods for groundwater exploration, water management, aquifer characterization, desertification process monitoring, sustainable development, engineering, geotechnical and environmental problems. He’s conducted intensive data acquisition, processing, modeling, and interpretation of geoelectric and electromagnetic (VES, 2D/3D ERT, SP, IP/SIP, VLF, TDEM, and MT), geomagnetic and seismic refraction measurements as well as petrophysical measurements on both field and laboratory scale in Egypt, UK, and USA.

Currently Ahmed is CEO of the Egyptian team of the project: Sustainable Approaches to Water and Soil Management for Drylands in the Mediterranean Basin (SALM-MED) funded by the European Union’s Programme for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA).

ABOUT SEISMIC SOUNDOFF
Seismic Soundoff showcases conversations addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and hosted by Andrew Geary of 51 features, these episodes celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. Three new episodes monthly. See the full archive at https://seg.org/resources/podcast/.

“The major pitfall of machine learning of any kind is to be overly confident in the results. We run the risk of garbage in gospel out.”

This discussion offers a rare chance to go a little deeper into a Leading Edge article and hear directly from the authors about the thinking behind their workflow. Satinder Chopra and Kurt Marfurt walk through how unsupervised machine learning, careful attribute selection, and simple preprocessing steps can reveal subtle channel features in a deepwater New Zealand example. It feels less like a theory lesson and more like practical guidance on using machine learning as a helpful partner in everyday seismic interpretation.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
> Small workflow choices have big impact. Clean input data, thoughtful attribute selection, and simple normalization steps often determine whether machine learning highlights geology or just amplifies noise.
> The value is in the combination of tools and judgment. Unsupervised methods quickly expose patterns, but interpreters still need to compare results with seismic sections, wells, and regional context to confirm what is real.
> PCA and SOM make complex attribute sets easier to explore. By reducing dozens of attributes into clearer clusters, they help interpreters see channel shapes and reservoir variability that might otherwise be overlooked.

LINKS
* Read the December 2025 special section - https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/tle/issue/44/12
* Seismic characterization with unsupervised machine learning applications for facies classification by Satinder Chopra and Kurt Marfurt - https://doi.org/10.1190/tle44120934.1

ABOUT SEISMIC SOUNDOFF
Seismic Soundoff showcases conversations addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and hosted by Andrew Geary of 51 features, these episodes celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. Three new episodes monthly. See the full archive at https://seg.org/resources/podcast/.

“I think that for geophysicists out there, people need to realize that it's an integrated career path. You can't separate the geophysics from the HPC anymore, if we ever did to begin with.”

High-performance computing is becoming more important as seismic data grows in size and complexity. This episode highlights the January The Leading Edge special section on high-performance computing. Guest editors Madhav Vyas and Elizabeth L’Heureux share their perspective on GPUs, CPUs, AI tools, and better algorithms in geophysics, and they stress that future success depends on combining geophysical knowledge with strong computational skills.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
> Modern seismic imaging depends on both advanced physics and powerful, well-chosen computing hardware.
> Data movement and system architecture can limit performance as much as raw processing speed.
> Geophysicists increasingly need programming and computational science skills alongside domain expertise.

LINKS
* Read the January 2026 special section, High-performance computing in geophysics - https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/tle/issue/45/1
* Introduction to this special section: High-performance computing in geophysics by
Madhav Vyas; Elizabeth L’Heureux; Raj Gautam - https://doi.org/10.1190/tle-4501-SS01

ABOUT SEISMIC SOUNDOFF
Seismic Soundoff showcases conversations addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and hosted by Andrew Geary of 51 features, these episodes celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. Three new episodes monthly. See the full archive at https://seg.org/resources/podcast/.