HR: 13:30h
AN: NS13A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: 3D AUV Microseismic Implementation for Deepwater Seabed Investigations
AU: George, R
EM: rag@cctechnol.com
AF: C & C Technologies, Inc., 730 East Kaliste Saloom Rd., Lafayette, LA 70508 United States
AU: * Taylor, M W
EM: mwt@cctechnol.com
AF: C & C Technologies, Inc., 730 East Kaliste Saloom Rd., Lafayette, LA 70508 United States
AU: Gravely, J G
EM: jgg@cctechnol.com
AF: C & C Technologies, Inc., 730 East Kaliste Saloom Rd., Lafayette, LA 70508 United States
AB: Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) technology, developed commercially over the past 5 years, allows for the geophysical investigation of the seabed on the deepwater continental slope at resolutions, data densities and timelines not previously attainable. High-resolution geophysical systems normally employed on deepwater survey AUVs consist of multibeam bathymetry, side scan sonar and subbottom profiler. Inertial navigation allows positioning accuracies on the order of plus or minus 3 meters in depths up to 2,000 meters. C & C Technologies, Inc. owns and operates the C-Surveyor I AUV, which has collected more than 40,000 km of geohazard survey data on the continental slopes of the Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean Sea, Brazil and West Africa. The oil and gas industry routinely engineers deepwater platform-mooring systems and other bottom founded subsea systems for exploration and production developments. Resolute subbottom imaging of the foundation zone in order to identify the near-seafloor geologic conditions at these deepwater development sites is critical in order to maintain system integrity. The paper describes the methodology and post-processing techniques used to create a high-resolution (2-8 kHz) 3D seismic cube from subbottom profiler data collected from an AUV system. Data examples of the multibeam bathymetry, side scan sonar and 2D seismic profiles will be provided to complement the results of the 3D seismic cube processing. Examples of inlines, crosslines, arbitrary lines, seafloor amplitude extraction and time slices are presented for the 4-meter binned data set. Advantages, disadvantages and suggested improvements for the survey acquisition technique and post processing are discussed.
DE: 0933 Remote sensing
DE: 3025 Marine seismics (0935)
DE: 3045 Seafloor morphology and bottom photography
SC: Near-Surface Geophysics [NS]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly