1. Microseismic Data Exchange Standards Stewart A. Levin Stanford University

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

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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. An Invitation SEG-Y rev 2 needs YOU!