Seismic Soundoff

By Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG)

What's Seismic Soundoff about?

Seismic Soundoff hosts conversations with geoscientists addressing the challenges of energy, water, and climate. Produced by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, SEG creates these episodes to celebrate and inspire the geophysicists of today and tomorrow. The new season starts January 18, 2024, with twelve new episodes weekly.

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Seismic Soundoff episodes:

04.04.2024
#220: Revealing Lost Legacies with Geophysics (Rob Stewart & Jim White)
"The respect and honor that we give to our predecessors really indicate what kind of character we have." This episode explores the first Geoscientists without Borders project in the United States. Host Andrew Geary speaks with the project lead, Rob Stewart,...
03.28.2024
219: The Secret to Succeeding as a Teacher (Roel Snieder)
"The challenge is to really bring your heart into the classroom, show up as a person, show up with care." Dr. Roel Snieder discusses how to excel as a teacher (and professional) using the Teaching with Heart practices. In this unique and...
03.21.2024
218: Innovations in Fault and Fracture Imaging (Molly Turko)
"Faults and fractures are not necessarily good or bad, but it's important to really understand them." Dr. Molly Turko discusses March's special section on imaging faults and fractures in The Leading Edge. In this compelling episode, host Andrew Geary and Molly dive...
03.14.2024
217: Advancing Subsurface Knowledge Through Microseismic Insights (Joël Le Calvez)
"The value is not in the measurement per se. It is in the ability to integrate this measurement with everything else that we have access to." Dr. Joël Le Calvez discusses January's special section in The Leading Edge on microseismic monitoring. Joël...
03.07.2024
216: Rethinking Data - Geophysics in the Era of Change (Lindsey Heagy)
"There's so much high-quality data, and more and more is being made publicly available. By shifting to open source, we're choosing that the value proposition is the people." Dr. Lindsey Heagy discusses February's special section in The Leading Edge on the...
02.29.2024
215: Strengthening Diversity in the Geosciences w/ Dr. Isaac Crumbly
"I've learned much more from my mistakes than I ever learned from my successes, because it was my mistakes that helped me to have successes." Meet the man behind the mission to diversify the energy sector. Dr. Isaac Crumbly shares the...
02.22.2024
214: The Untapped Potential of the Earth's Hidden Commons w/ Iain Stewart
"I think that selling this idea that if you become a geoscientist in the 21st century, the frontier is not up there in the sky, but is down there underneath your feet." In this thought-provoking episode, expert geoscience communicator Iain Stewart...
02.15.2024
213: Hidden Hazards – The Orphaned Well Dilemma
"With the magnetic method, you can say with some certainty that it will locate more than 90% of the existing wells. The grand challenge for locating abandoned wells are these wells where the casing has been pulled." Richard Hammack discusses the...
02.08.2024
212: Examining 5 Unconventional Borehole Seismic Techniques
"The challenge is to learn and be aware of new techniques and applications and apply them." Eduardo Corti discusses his Honorary Lecture, "Unconventional Borehole Seismic Techniques." Unconventional borehole seismic services encompass techniques that go beyond conventional seismic methods. With over eight decades...
02.01.2024
211: Connecting the Energy Transition to Societal Engagement
"How do we move towards a greater societal understanding of what's required to achieve the goals of decarbonization? Building a sustainable society requires everybody, all the citizens, to do a whole bunch of different things, many of which are minor." Murray...
01.25.2024
210: Unveiling Seismic Secrets - Inside Machine Learning's Black Box
"It's not like machine learning will solve all the problems. It's not a magical tool." David Lubo-Robles highlights his award-winning paper that utilized novel machine learning methods to enhance interpretability in seismic volume data from the Gulf of Mexico. Discover the power...
01.18.2024
209: Thinking like an algorithm - utilizing machine learning in seismic data
"The driving objective of AASPI is to try and reveal and see more patterns in the seismic data than we can see just looking at the seismic amplitude data." Heather Bedle, Principal Investigator at Attribute Assisted Seismic Processing and Interpretation (AASPI)...
12.21.2023
208: Pioneering Seismic Imaging for Energy and Sustainability
Biondo Biondi, the Director of the Stanford Earth imaging Project (SEP), joins Seismic Soundoff to discuss SEP's 50-year history and future outlook. Biondo reflects on SEP's founding during the 1970s oil crisis and today as it tackles modern energy challenges....
12.14.2023
207: Advancing Geosciences - How the SEG Foundation Makes a Difference
In this intriguing conversation, David Bartel, the Chair of the SEG Foundation, provides an exclusive insight into how the nonprofit organization is advancing geophysics research, supporting SEG members, and positively impacting society. David highlights the key programs funded by the...
12.07.2023
206: Arthur Cheng on His SEG Journey from Student to President
Arthur Cheng, who became the first Chinese president of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, talks about his journey from being a student to becoming the president of the Society. He shares some of the highlights from his five decades of...
11.16.2023
205: Managing carbon - a new frontier
Kurang Mehta discusses the November special section on carbon management in The Leading Edge. In this episode, get an inside look at the emerging field of carbon management. You will learn about the history and methods of carbon capture and storage....
11.09.2023
204: Successfully navigating the energy transition
Oil and gas companies have an enormous role in transitioning to a renewable future. This episode examines how Ipieca partners with companies and organizations to support a sustainable future through emissions reduction, nature conservation, and stakeholder engagement. Ipieca is the global oil...
11.02.2023
203: Solving future challenges for deep exploration
Chao Wang and Stephen Graf discuss the October special section in The Leading Edge on deep exploration. In the 1920s, the first oil discovery in Seminole, Oklahoma, was made at a depth of approximately 4,000 feet. In 1949, the average depth...
10.19.2023
202: The next revolution in seismic interpretation
Steven Lynch discusses his article in The Leading Edge, "High visual resolution interpretation: The case for virtual seismic reality." Steve lays out the case for why the seismic you have is better than you think. He argues that the industry...
10.12.2023
201: Carbon storage data management done right
Sue Carr and Jess Kozman discuss the complexities and possibilities for managing downhole geophysical data for carbon storage. In this insightful conversation with host Andrew Geary, Sue and Jess highlight the data types associated with carbon storage and the first step...
10.05.2023
200: Highlights from the Top 10 Episodes and Behind-the-Scenes
For this milestone episode, this show highlights key statistics, showcases clips from the Top 10 episodes, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the show is made. In total, Seismic Soundoff has over 170,300 listens across its 200 episodes. The podcast...
09.21.2023
199: How geophysics keeps people safe
Steve Roche discusses his current Geoscientists without Borders project addressing volcano preparedness in Guatemala. Steve's GWB project addresses the geohazard resiliency and safety of the communities in Guatemala. His project implements community-based educational workshops about earthquake and volcanic hazards. Steve's project...
09.14.2023
198: How to chart a successful career in 2023 w/ Kurt Marfurt
Kurt Marfurt reflects on his career and the recent award of SEG's highest honor, the Maurice Ewing Medal. In this engaging conversation with host Andrew Geary, Kurt shares his reaction to learning about receiving the Maurice Ewing Medal. He offers his...
09.07.2023
197: Building confidence in CO2 storage with forecasting and monitoring
Philip Ringrose discusses his upcoming Distinguished Instructor Short Course, "Storage of Carbon Dioxide in Saline Aquifers – Building confidence by forecasting and monitoring." Interest in carbon capture and storage (CCS) is growing rapidly as a crucial part of global efforts to...
08.17.2023
196: The sound of seismic
Paolo Dell'Aversana highlights his article in The Leading Edge, discussing a dual-sensory approach to understanding seismic. In a first for this podcast, host Andrew Geary and Paolo discuss music's role in interpreting seismic. Based on concepts well-established in cognitive sciences, Paolo...
08.10.2023
195: Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals with food
Sara Gentilini, founder of GEOfood, discusses how her organization supports the sustainable development of local communities and helps increase achievement towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. GEOfood is an initiative for communities and environmentally friendly food enterprises in UNESCO Global...
08.03.2023
194: Improving integration in machine learning workflows
Felix J. Herrmann highlights the July 2023 special section in The Leading Edge - digitalization in energy. In this episode with host Andrew Geary, Felix discusses his open-access article, "Learned multiphysics inversion with differentiable programming and machine learning." He shares why...
07.20.2023
193: The potency of rock-physics-guided deep neural networks
Fabien Allo highlights his award-winning article, "Characterization of a carbonate geothermal reservoir using rock-physics-guided deep neural networks." In this episode with host Andrew Geary, Fabien shares the potential of deep neural networks (DNNs) in integrating seismic data for reservoir characterization. He...
07.13.2023
192: Maximizing the value of IMAGE
Aria Abubakar and Wenyi Hu, co-chair and vice-chair of the IMAGE Technical Program Committee, respectively, discuss the reasons for attending IMAGE '23. The third annual International Meeting for Applied Geoscience & Energy (IMAGE) will bring geoscientists from around the world from...
07.06.2023
191: How to unlock the power of networking
Lia Martinez shares the critical skills necessary to network successfully. In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, Lia offers tips and best practices to fully utilize networking to further your career and technical skills. She explains why seven follow-ups (or touches)...
06.15.2023
190: The unique power of combining GPR and FWI
Anja Klotzsche discusses her Near-Surface Global Lecture, "Unlocking the potential of GPR for subsurface characterization by using full-waveform inversion." The heterogeneous near-surface consists of the complex interactions between rock, soil, water, air, and living organisms, which determine the availability of life-sustaining...
06.08.2023
189: How to apply machine learning to real-world problems
As the size and complexity of data soars exponentially, machine learning (ML) has gained prominence in applications in geoscience and related fields. ML-powered technology increasingly rivals or surpasses human performance and fuels a large range of leading-edge research. In this conversation...
06.01.2023
188: A reality check on full-wave inversion w/ Öz Yilmaz
Öz Yilmaz returns to the podcast to highlight his award-winning article, "A reality check on full-wave inversion applied to land seismic data for near-surface modeling." In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, Öz assesses the accuracy of full-wave inversion applied to...
05.18.2023
187: 11 lessons to succeed as a geoscientist
Seismic Soundoff has featured some of the most well-known geoscientists, authors, and teachers for the past seven years. And since episode 72, host Andrew Geary has asked his guests, "What is one piece of advice you would offer someone that...
05.11.2023
186: The role of critical minerals in future-proofing
Critical mineral exploration will play a key role in human development and progress. The April 2023 special section of The Leading Edge focuses on the issue of critical minerals from the perspective of recent progress in mining exploration and anticipated...
05.04.2023
185: The current and future outlook for SEG and geophysics
SEG President Ken Tubman discusses the future outlook of SEG and applied geophysics. In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, Ken provides the latest information on the ongoing SEG transformation. He outlines how SEG could allow greater experimentation, the pros and...
04.20.2023
184: Water is Life - GWB Ghana Water Project
Dr. Elikplim Abla Dzikunoo and Abdul Rashid Seidu discuss their Geoscientists without Borders project, "Provision of potable water to communities in northeastern Ghana." This GWB project will directly help the inhabitants of two communities (Zagsliari and Salinwia) located within the Nasia...
04.13.2023
183: The importance of SEG regional offices to advance geophysics
Yogaani Bhatia, SEG's Managing Director for International Operations, discusses the value of the SEG regional offices as SEG celebrates over ten years of the Middle East regional office. In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, Yogaani describes the work and vision...
04.06.2023
182: Uncovering the hidden history of Ghana
Dr. Cyril D. Boateng discusses his SEG Field Camp, "Investigating the slave trade in South Eastern Ghana using integrated geophysical techniques." Recently, there has been renewed interest in connecting Africans in the diaspora to their ancestral lands. In this context, significant...
03.16.2023
181: Seismic's role in geological carbon capture and storage
Roman Pevzner discusses his Honorary Lecture, "Surface and borehole seismic monitoring of CO2 geological storage." Geological carbon capture and storage (CCS) or sequestration is a critical component of CO2 emission reduction, which aims to alleviate global climate change. Geological carbon storage...
03.09.2023
180: The power and need for SEG Scholarships
SEG Scholarships encourage the study of geophysics and related geosciences in universities worldwide. Due to the generosity of donors, the SEG offers a range of different scholarship opportunities to students all over the globe. In this special episode, we feature...
03.02.2023
179: New takes on energy independence and policies
Government policies, incentives, and funding directly impact gains in energy efficiency and energy independence. In this conversation with host Andrew Geary, Diana Sineva and Stephen Brown highlight recent policy changes in the United States and how it impacts the world...
02.16.2023
178: Why you should consider drone-based geophysics
Technological advancements in geophysical sensors and sensor platforms over the past decade have given rise to the rapidly growing and innovative field of drone-based geophysics. As improvements in reliability, payload capacity, coverage capability, resolution, data quality, cost, and personnel safety...
02.09.2023
177: Searching for the perfect x-ray image of the Earth
What sets the seismic method apart from other geophysical exploration methods is its ability to deliver three-dimensional high-resolution images of the subsurface. Ramesh (Neelsh) Neelamani traces the history of the seismic method to showcase recent breakthroughs and future advancements. Neelsh is...
02.02.2023
176: The secret shortcut to power up your career
Boris Gurevich provides an insider's perspective on the value of expanding your knowledge and awareness of the wide-ranging discipline of geophysics. Boris currently serves as Chair of the Distinguished Lecture Committee at the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. In this conversation with...
01.19.2023
175: Searching for the perfect digital twin of the seismic reservoir
The seismic data set is a fundamental requirement for producing oil and gas fields. Reservoir modeling utilizing seismic interpretations drove insights into reservoir quality and performance, helping to understand the communication between reservoir units and wells, particularly in fields with...
01.12.2023
174: From the beach to the reservoir - the power of microseismicity
Leo Eisner discusses his Honorary Lecture, "Mapping pore pressure with beach balls." The stress field of the Earth's crust has been studied for many decades as a part of seismology and geomechanics. Traditional stress inversion methods utilize focal mechanisms of earthquakes...
01.05.2023
173: Why you need the Gravity & Magnetic Encyclopedic Dictionary
Serguei Goussev discusses his new book, Gravity & Magnetic Encyclopedic Dictionary. This book contains more than 3,200 entries and presents a terminology-guided summary of the gravity and magnetic theory, measuring instruments, methods of data acquisition, processing, analysis, and interpretation for geophysical...
12.15.2022
172: Building the next generation of geoscientists
GeoFORCE Program Director Dr. Leah Turner discusses building the pipeline for the next generation of geoscientists. GeoFORCE Texas received the 2022 Special Commendation Award at IMAGE. The program is a free K-12 outreach program designed to increase the number and diversity...
12.08.2022
171: The global water crisis and how to stop it
Paul Bauman discusses the inaugural Global Sustainability Lecture series, "A Strategy for Improving Rural Water Supply Development in Sub-Saharan Africa." Though 98% of the available freshwater in the world is groundwater, groundwater resources are not easily available in much of the...

What's Seismic Soundoff about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Seismic Soundoff episodes:

#220: Revealing Lost Legacies with Geophysics (Rob Stewart & Jim White)

219: The Secret to Succeeding as a Teacher (Roel Snieder)

218: Innovations in Fault and Fracture Imaging (Molly Turko)

217: Advancing Subsurface Knowledge Through Microseismic Insights (Joël Le Calvez)

216: Rethinking Data - Geophysics in the Era of Change (Lindsey Heagy)

215: Strengthening Diversity in the Geosciences w/ Dr. Isaac Crumbly

214: The Untapped Potential of the Earth's Hidden Commons w/ Iain Stewart

213: Hidden Hazards – The Orphaned Well Dilemma

212: Examining 5 Unconventional Borehole Seismic Techniques

211: Connecting the Energy Transition to Societal Engagement

210: Unveiling Seismic Secrets - Inside Machine Learning's Black Box

209: Thinking like an algorithm - utilizing machine learning in seismic data

208: Pioneering Seismic Imaging for Energy and Sustainability

207: Advancing Geosciences - How the SEG Foundation Makes a Difference

206: Arthur Cheng on His SEG Journey from Student to President

205: Managing carbon - a new frontier

204: Successfully navigating the energy transition

203: Solving future challenges for deep exploration

202: The next revolution in seismic interpretation

201: Carbon storage data management done right

200: Highlights from the Top 10 Episodes and Behind-the-Scenes

199: How geophysics keeps people safe

198: How to chart a successful career in 2023 w/ Kurt Marfurt

197: Building confidence in CO2 storage with forecasting and monitoring

196: The sound of seismic

195: Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals with food

194: Improving integration in machine learning workflows

193: The potency of rock-physics-guided deep neural networks

192: Maximizing the value of IMAGE

191: How to unlock the power of networking

190: The unique power of combining GPR and FWI

189: How to apply machine learning to real-world problems

188: A reality check on full-wave inversion w/ Öz Yilmaz

187: 11 lessons to succeed as a geoscientist

186: The role of critical minerals in future-proofing

185: The current and future outlook for SEG and geophysics

184: Water is Life - GWB Ghana Water Project

183: The importance of SEG regional offices to advance geophysics

182: Uncovering the hidden history of Ghana

181: Seismic's role in geological carbon capture and storage

180: The power and need for SEG Scholarships

179: New takes on energy independence and policies

178: Why you should consider drone-based geophysics

177: Searching for the perfect x-ray image of the Earth

176: The secret shortcut to power up your career

175: Searching for the perfect digital twin of the seismic reservoir

174: From the beach to the reservoir - the power of microseismicity

173: Why you need the Gravity & Magnetic Encyclopedic Dictionary

172: Building the next generation of geoscientists

171: The global water crisis and how to stop it