Numerical solution of the two-dimensional inverse geomagnetic induction problem

Summary An effective numerical approach to the solution of the two-dimensional inverse geomagnetic induction problem using the linearization method is presented. The numerical realization of the inversion is based on Marquardt's algorithm, for which the solution of the direct problem and the partial derivatives of this solution with respect to the electrical parameters of the medium are computed by the finite difference method. Theoretical models are studied and numerical results are presented.     

A BME solution of the inverse problem for saturated groundwater flow

In most real-world hydrogeologic situations, natural heterogeneity and measurement errors introduce major sources of uncertainty in the solution of the inverse problem. The Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) method of modern geostatistics offers an efficient solution to the inverse problem by first assimilating various physical knowledge bases (hydrologic laws, water table elevation data, uncertain hydraulic resistivity measurements, etc.) and then producing robust estimates of the subsurface variables across space. We present specific methods for implementing the BME conceptual framework to solve an inverse problem involving Darcys law for subsurface flow. We illustrate one of these methods in the case of a synthetic one-dimensional case study concerned with the estimation of hydraulic resistivity conditioned on soft data and hydraulic head measurements. The BME framework processes the physical knowledge contained in Darcys law and generates accurate estimates of hydraulic resistivity across space. The optimal distribution of hard and soft data needed to minimize the associated estimation error at a specified sampling cost is determined. This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Grant no. 5 P42 ES05948 and P30ES10126), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant no. 60-00RFQ041), the Army Research Office (Grant no. DAAG55-98-1-0289), and the National Science Foundation under Agreement No. DMS-0112069.     

The magnetotelluric inverse problem

The magnetotelluric inverse problem is reviewed, addressing the following mathematical questions: (a)Existence of solutions: A satisfactory theory is now available to determine whether or not a given finite collection of response data is consistent with any one-dimensional conductivity profile. (b)Uniqueness: With practical data, consisting of a finite set of imprecise observations, infinitely many solutions exist if one does. (c)Construction: Several numerically stable procedures have been given which it can be proved will construct a conductivity profile in accord with incomplete data, whenever a solution exists. (d)Inference: No sound mathematical theory has yet been developed enabling us to draw firm, geophysically useful conclusions about the complete class of satisfactory models. Examples illustrating these ideas are given, based in the main on the COPROD data series.     

The solution of the one-dimensional inverse problem for induction soundings by an efficient linearization technique

A non-parametric method, the efficient linearization technique (ELT), is proposed for the inversion of induction soundings for a spherical Earth model with a radial conductivity distribution. The method is based on the fact that when linearizing the operator of the direct problem, the quantitative estimate of its non-linear term is taken into account, which makes the solution search procedure stable. At each iteration stage, the conductivity function correction is sought in the region where linearization is admissible. ELT makes it possible to evaluate the resolving power of the data and also the confidence interval for the conductivity function. Model examples illustrate the features of this method. The results of interpretation of magnetotelluric data are compared with nearby drill hole resistivity logs. A model of the conductivity distribution in the mantle based on global magnetovariational data available up to 1986, is constructed. This model is consistent with modern knowledge of physical processes occurring in the interior of the Earth.     

The inverse problem and ground water management

The response of groundwater basins to natural and anthropogenic inputs depends on many interrelated factors such as the values of groundwater flow and mass transport parameters. This work presents a theoretical analysis of the impact of parameter uncertainty on groundwater management decisions. It is shown that under classical, Bayesian, and deterministic assumptions about the parameter structure, the resulting management decisions could be very different. This underscores the importance of adopting the proper parameter structure and the need for using consistent methods to solve the inverse problem.     

On one method of solving the direct gravimetric problem

Summary The general solution of the direct gravimetric problem for homogeneous and inhomogeneous bodies was derived in[1] in the form of Green-type integrals. In the present paper it is proved that this solution simplifies considerably, if the solution of the external Dirichlet problem, defined by conditions(2), is known for a closed surface bounding the attracting body.Dedicated to RNDr Jan Pícha, CSc., on his 60th Birthday     

A new ellipsoidal gravimetric, satellite altimetry and astronomic boundary value problem, a case study: The geoid of Iran

A new gravimetric, satellite altimetry, astronomical ellipsoidal boundary value problem for geoid computations has been developed and successfully tested. This boundary value problem has been constructed for gravity observables of the type (i) gravity potential, (ii) gravity intensity (i.e. modulus of gravity acceleration), (iii) astronomical longitude, (iv) astronomical latitude and (v) satellite altimetry observations. The ellipsoidal coordinates of the observation points have been considered as known quantities in the set-up of the problem in the light of availability of GPS coordinates. The developed boundary value problem is ellipsoidal by nature and as such takes advantage of high precision GPS observations in the set-up. The algorithmic steps of the solution of the boundary value problem are as follows:

- Application of the ellipsoidal harmonic expansion complete up to degree and order 360 and of the ellipsoidal centrifugal field for the removal of the effect of global gravity and the isostasy field from the gravity intensity and the astronomical observations at the surface of the Earth.

- Application of the ellipsoidal Newton integral on the multi-cylindrical equal-area map projection surface for the removal from the gravity intensity and the astronomical observations at the surface of the Earth the effect of the residual masses at the radius of up to 55 km from the computational point.

- Application of the ellipsoidal harmonic expansion complete up to degree and order 360 and ellipsoidal centrifugal field for the removal from the geoidal undulations derived from satellite altimetry the effect of the global gravity and isostasy on the geoidal undulations.

- Application of the ellipsoidal Newton integral on the multi-cylindrical equal-area map projection surface for the removal from the geoidal undulations derived from satellite altimetry the effect of the water masses outside the reference ellipsoid within a radius of 55 km around the computational point.

- Least squares solution of the observation equations of the incremental quantities derived from aforementioned steps in order to obtain the incremental gravity potential at the surface of the reference ellipsoid.

- The removed effects at the application points are restored on the surface of reference ellipsoid.

- Application of the ellipsoidal Bruns’ formula for converting the potential values on the surface of the reference ellipsoid into the geoidal heights with respect to the reference ellipsoid.

- Computation of the geoid of Iran has successfully tested this new methodology.

Solution of the one-dimensional inverse magnetotelluric problem

Summary Methods of solving the inverse magnetotelluric problem are compared. Basic relations for Newton's method, the least-squares method and Marquardt's method are presented and the convergence properties of these methods are studied. The high effectiveness of Marquardt's method is demonstrated and its application to practical magnetotelluric data is discussed.     

Conserved quantities and the inverse problem of reflection seismology

We show that the time-dependent wave equation in both one and two spatial dimensions possesses quantities which are globally conserved. We show how these conserved quantities can be used to determine the characteristic impedance, the rock density and the elastic constant of the rock. We also demonstrate that the conserved quantities possess the capability of determining and/or bracketing the unknown component of the direct pressure response, which is required to begin downward continuation algorithms. Further, we demonstrate that the conserved quantities are always available irrespective of the source structure in time. Numerical instability, arising if the filtering due to the source structure is too harsh, can then be controlled to a degree by demanding that the conserved quantities be indeed conserved.     

On the geostatistical approach to the inverse problem

The geostatistical approach to the inverse problem is discussed with emphasis on the importance of structural analysis. Although the geostatistical approach is occasionally misconstrued as mere cokriging, in fact it consists of two steps: estimation of statistical parameters (“structural analysis”) followed by estimation of the distributed parameter conditional on the observations (“cokriging” or “weighted least squares”). It is argued that in inverse problems, which are algebraically undetermined, the challenge is not so much to reproduce the data as to select an algorithm with the prospect of giving good estimates where there are no observations. The essence of the geostatistical approach is that instead of adjusting a grid-dependent and potentially large number of block conductivities (or other distributed parameters), a small number of structural parameters are fitted to the data. Once this fitting is accomplished, the estimation of block conductivities ensues in a predetermined fashion without fitting of additional parameters. Also, the methodology is compared with a straightforward maximum a posteriori probability estimation method. It is shown that the fundamental differences between the two approaches are: (a) they use different principles to separate the estimation of covariance parameters from the estimation of the spatial variable; (b) the method for covariance parameter estimation in the geostatistical approach produces statistically unbiased estimates of the parameters that are not strongly dependent on the discretization, while the other method is biased and its bias becomes worse by refining the discretization into zones with different conductivity.     

Quasi-one-dimensional method for solving the inverse magnetotelluric problem

We consider the iterative numerical method for solving two-dimensional (2D) inverse problems of magnetotelluric sounding, which significantly reduces the computational burden of the inverse problem solution in the class of quasi-layered models. The idea of the method is to replace the operator of the direct 2D problem of calculating the low-frequency electromagnetic field in a quasi-layered medium by a quasi-one dimensional operator at each observation point. The method is applicable for solving the inverse problems of magnetotellurics with either the E- and H-polarized fields and in the case when the inverse problem is simultaneously solved using the impedance values for the fields with both polarizations. We describe the numerical method and present the examples of its application to the numerical solution of a number of model inverse problems of magnetotelluric sounding.     

The analytic solution of the Shallow-Water Equations with partially open sluice-gates: The dam-break problem

The general solution of the dam-break problem with partial uplift of the sluice-gate is presented in the framework of the one-dimensional Shallow-Water Equations, under the hypothesis that the classic Energy–Momentum (E–M) formulation is used to evaluate the flow characteristics at the gate. Due to the nonlinearity of the problem, there are ranges of the initial conditions for which the problem admits multiple solutions, or no solution. In the ranges in which there are multiple solutions, the maximization of the discharge under the gate is used as a disambiguation criterion. The exact solutions are used as a benchmark in order to evaluate the results of a simple Finite-Volume scheme, where the discharge under the gate and the forces exerted on the flow by the gate itself are calculated using the E–M formulation.     

The density and Q-factor models based on the new data on the nutations and overtones of the free oscillations of the earth: 2. The results of the numerical modeling of the solution of the inverse problem

In the first part of the paper, we obtained the refined estimates for the periods and Q-factors of the fundamental modes and overtones of spherical and toroidal oscillations with periods longer than 3 min from the data on the free oscillations of the Earth, which were excited by the earthquakes with magnitude 9 that occurred in Sumatra, Japan, and the Sea of Okhotsk. In (Molodenskii et al., 2013), we analyzed the limits of the admissible density distributions in the mantle and liquid core of the Earth, using the data on the amplitudes and phases of the forced nutations, as well as the periods and attenuation factors of the fundamental modes of the free spheroidal and toroidal oscillations of the Earth. These studies were conducted with the fixed values of the total mass and total moment of inertia of the Earth and the fixed distributions of the body seismic waves in the mantle and in the core. The solution was obtained by orthogonalizing the kernels of the integral equations that link the residuals of the observed frequencies and attenuation factors of the free oscillations, as well as the amplitudes and phases of the forced nutations, with the sought densities and Q-factors of the mantle and liquid core. Below, we present the solution of the same problem with allowance for the results obtained in the first part of this paper, namely, the new data on the periods and attenuation factors of the fundamental modes of free oscillations of the Earth and on the periods of the first four overtones of the free spheroidal and toroidal oscillations. Despite the involvement of the new data on the overtones, which have not been considered in our calculations, the weighted root mean square deviations of the theoretical predictions from the observed periods and attenuation factors of the free oscillations, as well as the amplitudes and phases of the forced nutations, have significantly decreased. This is due to (1) the noticeable reduction of the real errors in estimating the parameters of the free oscillations described in the first part of the paper and (2) the inclusion of the quantities determining the depth- and frequency dependences of the Q-factor in the mantle in the set of the independently varied parameters.     

Uncertainty analysis and probabilistic segmentation of electrical resistivity images: the 2D inverse problem

In this paper, we present the uncertainty analysis of the 2D electrical tomography inverse problem using model reduction and performing the sampling via an explorative member of the Particle Swarm Optimization family, called the Regressive‐Regressive Particle Swarm Optimization. The procedure begins with a local inversion to find a good resistivity model located in the nonlinear equivalence region of the set of plausible solutions. The dimension of this geophysical model is then reduced using spectral decomposition, and the uncertainty space is explored via Particle Swarm Optimization. Using this approach, we show that it is possible to sample the uncertainty space of the electrical tomography inverse problem. We illustrate this methodology with the application to a synthetic and a real dataset coming from a karstic geological set‐up. By computing the uncertainty of the inverse solution, it is possible to perform the segmentation of the resistivity images issued from inversion. This segmentation is based on the set of equivalent models that have been sampled, and makes it possible to answer geophysical questions in a probabilistic way, performing risk analysis.     

On the problem of the existence and uniqueness of a discrete,surface, optimum wiener filter,applied to the filtering of geophysical fields

Summary Proof is given of the existence and uniqueness of a discrete, surface, optimum (in the Wiener sense) filter for filtering geophysical fields considering a spectral approach to the construction of the said filter. It is also shown that the filtration coefficients and the filtration errors of the filter, constructed with the help of statistical estimates of the required spectral densities, converge towards their theoretical values. From the mathematical point of view, this paper concludes the building-up of the mathematical model of the discrete Wiener optimum surface filtration, suitable for geophysical fields.     

Forward modelling and inverse problem in the comprehensive interpretation of well logs

Comprehensive interpretation of well logs often consists in solving a set of equations with complex boundary conditions. For each log, the equation combines geological parameters and a response by the device. Minimization is a way of obtaining the best solution that involves finding the minimum of the defined error function. In the case discussed here, an error is a measure of the difference between recorded and theoretical logs.
The simplest and quickest way to determine a solution to the presented problem is to apply the conjugate gradient descent method to minimize the error function. This approach is not efficient in some cases when logging in regions with complex geology.
We prove that a special algorithm using the Monte Carlo method combined with the conjugate gradient descent method gives considerably better results in comprehensive interpretation. A measure of the quality of the proposed method is the discrepancy between the standard solution obtained from commercial software used in the petroleum industry and the new algorithm result.
We present examples of the application of the proposed algorithm for comprehensive interpretation in typical Zechstein dolomite beds and the Carboniferous sandstone layer in the Polish Lowland.     

On the new approach to solving the inverse problem of gravimetry

The results of the studies within the new approach to solving the inverse problem of gravimetry are considered. This approach consists in direct (analytical) continuation of the anomalous gravitational field specified on the Earth’s surface into the lower half-space with the use of the method of discrete approximations. The solution of the problem of analytical continuation is demonstrated by the model example. In the solution of the problem of analytical continuation, the developed algorithms and computer programs were implemented in two program packages which are used both in the model computations and in practice.     

On the inverse dynamo problem in a simplified mean-field model

Inverse dynamo theory seeks to gain information about the motion of a liquid conductor from measurements of the magnetic field in the surrounding vacuum. We consider here a highly simplified model problem, namely a steady α²-dynamo in plane geometry with an α-field varying only in the z-direction normal to the conductor–vacuum interface. Based on perturbation theory about constant-α solutions, we find as many integral conditions on α(z) as modes are present in the vacuum field. This result is corroborated by the complete solution of a special case.