New methods to image the Earth’s Interior using Seismic Interferometry

100% Funded. Part of an International Academic/Industrial Research Collaboration
SUMMARY: A new method known as seismic interferometry is revolutionising earthquake and industrial seismology. It allows virtual (imagined) sources of energy to be created and recorded inside the real Earth, and virtual (imagined) sensors to be created that record real seismic waves. Such ‘virtual recordings’ can be used to image the real Earth. They can even be used to construct signals from energy that has long since dissipated, e.g., to obtain recordings of energy from earthquakes that occurred perhaps years ago, on sensors installed today!) The Edinburgh group is one of 4 worldwide who lead these developments.
In this Ph. D. project (which has considerable flexibility to include your personal, individual areas of interest), you will develop these techniques further to create new academic and industrial imaging methods to image the Earth’s subsurface. These developments will be targeted at improving imaging of subsurface resources (water, hydrocarbon, ores) or of subsurface waste disposal sites (of nuclear waste or carbon dioxide for climate-change mitigation), and will have spin-off applications for earthquake and regional scale seismology.
You will conduct this research in the largest seismological research group in the UK, Edinburgh Seismic Research (www.geos.ed.ac.uk/seismic). You will be trained in all relevant theory, and be given all necessary computing and other resources. You will interact and collaborate with some of the world’s best seismologists, and with scientists from several of the worlds leading multi-national industrial research centres. You will have the opportunity to apply these methods to industrial and earthquake seismology, and to present your research at international conferences.
Prerequisites: You must have an excellent degree in Mathematics, Physics, Geophysics or a closely related science, and good knowledge of some aspect of wave theory (e.g., seismology, acoustics, electro-magnetics). Experience of computer programming is also necessary.
Applications: Please send a full academic CV to Prof. Andrew Curtis: [Email Address Removed]