Ten years in the wild (Redux)

ASEG Webinar

Date: 7/7/20

Presenter: David Annetts

Title: Ten years in the wild (Redux) Abstract: An updated and expanded version of the AEGC presentation providing background to a CSIRO project that was placed in the public domain in 2009. The talk offers lessons and guidance for others who would walk a similar path. The use of open-source codes has become pervasive over the past 20 years but such codes are uncommon in minerals exploration. The P223 series of programs researching forward and inverse modelling of electromagnetic data was supported by CSIRO and six AMIRA consortia over 27 years and produced, amongst others, the codes, Airbeo, LeroiAir, and Marco. This project concluded in 2008 and, after a two-year embargo, the code base, consisting of computer programs modelling different approximations of the earth for ground and airborne prospecting systems, was released to the public. We discuss reasons why codes have not been more widely adopted, and examine the evolution of some of the codes in research, academia and in industry as a guide to parties who would embark on a similar route.

Bio:David Annetts has been with CSIRO since 2007. A forward-modeller by inclination, he has researched the application of frequency and time-domain electromagnetic prospecting methods to marine CSEM, CO2 sequestration, uranium and groundwater exploration, and maintains an active interest in CSIRO’s Bayesian Lithological Inversion initiative. He is also the current ASEG President.