Aims and scope
Near Surface Geophysics is an international journal for the publication of research and development in geophysics applied to near surface. It places emphasis on geological, hydrogeological, geotechnical, environmental, engineering, mining, archaeological, agricultural and other applications of geophysics as well as physical soil and rock properties. Geophysical and geoscientific case histories with innovative use of geophysical techniques are welcome, which may include improvements on instrumentation, measurements, data acquisition and processing, modelling, inversion, interpretation, project management and multidisciplinary use. The papers should also be understandable to those who use geophysical data but are not necessarily geophysicists.
Impact Factor 2011: 0.945
Near Surface Geophysics is indexed/abstracted in the Current Contents/ Physical, Chemical & Earth Sciences, ISI Alerting Service and Science Citation Index Expanded.
Near Surface Geophysics is published 6 times a year.
Business as usual for Near Surface Geoscience 2013 in Bochum? Not quite!
Business as usual? Without doubt the upcoming Near Surface Geoscience 2013 meeting closely follows a format established by its predecessors over almost two decades. So, you might call it business as usual. In fact, the format simply serves the purpose well and don’t you, like me, enjoy the familiarity of protocol when attending meetings: knowing how the schedule unfolds and when to expect what establishes a miliarity hat gives one the freedom to focus on contents of presentations and on meetings with people.
You will face no surprises in schedule or format when coming to Bochum for the conference. We’ll have the workshops on Sunday, the welcome addresses, and opening talk on Monday morning. The technical programme of oral and poster presentations will last until Wednesday afternoon. The exhibition will open on Monday afternoon with a welcome reception and it will also include on-site outdoor presentations of ewest equipment on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday night is reserved for the conference dinner and the field trips are scheduled for Thursday.
That is as far as ‘humdrum’ routine applies but the contents of presentations are supposed to guarantee the excitement. Hopefully, the way we at Bochum’ do things will turn the upcoming meeting into something special for you. The announcement of the two workshop topics: ‘Waveform inversion in near-surface geophysics: applications and new developments’ and ‘Application of geophysical methods for geotechnical site and parameter characterization and for process monitoring’, has already attracted quite a number of illustrious participants whose contributions will ensure the scientific quality of the events. The opening talk by Wina Graus (Utrecht University) will confront us with the non-geophysical aspects of energy use and sustainability. Make sure you don’t miss out on the keynotes by Achim Peters (Humboldt University, Berlin) on using atom interferometry for the newest generation of gravimetric field instruments and Insa Neuweiler (Leibniz University, Hannover) on the evergreen topic of coping with non-resolved structure in data interpretation.
The social side of a meeting is well taken care of, too. The conference dinner will be hosted at the centrally located Stadtpark gastronomy. Hopefully, you will enjoy the inviting ambience and the opportunity to stroll around in the park. Whilst doing so you can take a first look at the nearby mining museum, the destination of one of two exciting field trips. If you’ve never been in a mine don’t miss out on this opportunity to visit Bochum’s underground. The second field trip will be heading for sites where you can learn how the river Emscher is being turned from the area’s sewage conduit to a unique habitat for wildlife.
Last but not least, the Veranstaltungszentrum constitutes a modern venue with the rare opportunity to host all aspects of the conference on a single level. It’ll be hard to miss a person or an event! Its special location on the campus of Ruhr-Universität allows you to overlook the scenic Ruhr valley and provides easy access to the well-maintained botanical garden of the university inviting you to explore its special attractions.
Now, remember the deadline for abstract submission is 15 April and prepare yourself for our kind of ‘business as usual’ in Bochum.
For more information about the conference schedule, the Call for Papers, or sponsoring and exhibition options, please refer to our website: www.eage.org or contact nearsurface@eage.org.
(Published in First Break April 2013)
GPR imaging and inversion for hydrogeophysical and subsurface property estimation is focus of special NSG issue
Guest editors Jan van der Kruk, Evert Slob, and Lorenzo Crocco introduce the April 2013 special issue of Near Surface Geophysics based on papers arising from the 2011 International Workshop on advanced GPR (IWAGPR).
This special issue of Near Surface Geophysics (NSG) contains 13 papers. Most of these papers were presented at the 6th International Workshop on Advanced GPR (IWAGPR2011), which was held in Aachen, Germany from June 22-24, 2011. The workshop is part of a biannual series of international scientific symposia devoted to the advancements in GPR techniques and applications. Almost 70 papers were presented and approximately 120 scientists from academia, government, and industry from 19 different countries attended, confirming the interest in this topic and the vitality of the GPR community. It is indeed worth recalling that NSG has already devoted two special sections in December 2008 and June 2011 to host extended versions of papers presented at IWAGPR2007 and IWAGPR2009, respectively.
The goal of the IWAGPR workshop is to spread knowledge about GPR technology and its use, as well as to provide a unique possibility to participants to exchange ideas about their current work and discuss their results. Advancements in GPR techniques and applications cover a wide range including hydrogeophysics; advanced modelling, processing, and inversion; mining, archaeological, and geological applications; concrete pavement, and material characterization; and novel GPR systems and antennas. Due to technological improvements, GPR surveys can be performed faster and can lead to more quantitative results using multi-channel systems. More and more detailed modelling approaches are incorporated within the imaging and inversion algorithms, such that all information present within the GPR data can be exploited, also thanks to the improved accessibility and availability of multi-processor clusters or super computers facilities.
Some of the authors who contributed to the workshop have been invited to submit full-length papers that describe the newest developments in GPR, covering most of the above mentioned themes and with ‘modelling, imaging, and inversion for hydrogeophysical and subsurface property estimation’ as a central focus.
The first paper of this special issue is written by Wunderlich and Rabbel and investigates the absorption and frequency shift of GPR signals in sandy and silty soils, which are relevant to many hydrogeophysical applications. Orlando and Renzi analyze time-lapse multi-component GPR measurements performed during a controlled experiment simulating DNAPL release. The effect of shallow water content on early-time GPR signals is analyzed by Ferrara et al. by changing the water content in a concrete slab and comparing the results with nuclear magnetic resonance. Tran et al., present the numerical validation of a full-wave antenna model where the antenna is characterized by a series of source and field points and global reflection/ transmission coefficients.
An automated spectral velocity analysis method is proposed by Hamann et al. to determine the direct groundwave velocity from common midpoint or multi-offset GPR data. Fiaz et al. derived an asymptotic solution for the effective computation of the scattering by a cylindrical object buried beneath a slightly rough surface. A directional borehole radar is used by Ebihara et al. to estimate the position of a planar interface and its inclination. The acquisition setup for cross-hole GPR full-waveform inversion is optimized by Oberrohrmann et al. using a checkerboard analysis to obtain porosity estimates from the Krauthausen aquifer. Zhao et al. used a Maxwell curl equation datuming based
on the Kirchhoff integral solution to reduce near-surface diffractive scattering in GPR data.
The joint use of FDTD forward modelling and linear tomographic inversion is proposed by Millington et al. to enhance imaging capabilities in complex scenarios by exploiting the knowledge on the investigated scenario. Gabellone et al., describe a combined GPR, temperature, and humidity measurement campaign carried out to non-destructively prospect the floor and lateral walls of the chapel of the Holy Spirit in Lecce, Italy. Verdonck et al. analyze several methods to suppress different kinds of linear noise present in 2D and 3D archaeologicalr GPR data. Finally, Saintenoy et al. discuss the high-resolution mapping of ice thickness, glacier volume, and bedrock morphology of the Austre Lovénbreen (Svalbard).
(This article is published in First Break March 2013)
Magnetic resonance workshop
Report from Ugur Yaramanci, editor-in-chief, Near Surface Geophysics, on the 5th International Workshop on Magnetic Resonance in the Subsurface held in September in Hannover, Germany.
For the fifth time in a decade or so the community of magnetic resonance sounding (MRS) specialists has come together for a workshop, this time on 25–27 September in Hannover, Germany with the support of EAGE. The Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics hosted the 61 participants from universities, research institutes, state geological surveys, governmental authorities as well as from industry.
The meeting took place over three days against the background of increasing use of the magnetic resonance method all around the world as a valuable exploration technology for near surface investigations, particularly for those related to groundwater. Researchers and groups from Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States came to discuss the global spread of activities, with research reports and documentation of achievements.
Many new developments were addressed under topics covering measurement technology, signal processing, modelling, and inversion as well as for NMR rock physics. A large number of case histories in different geological settings and exploration objectives highlighted the usefulness and power of the method and the information gained, which is not possible otherwise with geophysical and geological methods. Detailed information and proceedings of the workshop can be found at: www.mrs2012.org.
The direct imaging of the distribution of water content and hydraulic conductivity in the subsurface with magnetic resonance turns out to be an indispensable part of any study for assessing ground water resources and aquifer characterization. Completed by NMR measurements in boreholes and in laboratory and the new possibility of field measurements in scales relevant for soil physics and for the vadose zone, this subdiscipline of NMR geophysics is now a reality, utilizing the capability of NMR technology even more for near surface assessments in various geoscales. MRS when used in combination with other geophysical exploration technologies, in particular those involving electrical and electromagnetic methods, has emerged as an essential contribution for understanding and solving the problems on a global scale related to ground water.
In the workshop, a field experiment showed for the first time, that MRS is possible even in urban areas, by new schemes of measurement overcoming the difficulties caused by high electromagnetic noise.
A nice conference dinner rounded up the workshop, providing the opportunity for further discussion and producing new ideas and cooperation assisted by a glass or two of local wine and good food. The dinner sponsored by the industry for measurement technology was very much appreciated by the MRS community as a traditional part of the workshop, allowing for communication in a different ambience.
As in previous workshops, the EAGE supported this latest gathering. A special issue in Near Surface Geophysics will be published in due time derived from the presentations at the workshop complemented with some further submissions. As with previous special issues, EAGE expects that publication of this new work will serve for some years as a main reference for the state of art and for the most new developments with high impact also suggesting the future direction of research. The guest editors will be Ugur Yaramanci, Rosemary Knight and Anatoly Legchenko and the deadline for the submission of potential articles has been set for the end of this year (2012).
The workshop continued the tradition started 1999 in Berlin and followed by meetings in Orleans (2003), Madrid (2006), Grenoble (2009) and Hannover in 2012. Participants have already begun planning for the next meeting, possibly in two years time, with offers to host from the universities in Aahurs (Denmark) and Chanchun (China).
(Published in First Break November 2012)
News Archive