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Journal of the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Robust data processing of noisy marine controlled-source electromagnetic data using independent component analysis

Naoto Imamura 1 5 Tada-nori Goto 2 4 Takafumi Kasaya 3 Hideaki Machiyama 4
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

1 College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, 104 CEOAS Administration Building, Corvallis, OR 97331-5503, USA.

2 Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, C1-2-216, Kyotodaigaku Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto-shi 615-8540, Japan.

3 Research and Development Center for Earthquake and Tsunami, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan.

4 Research and Development Center for Submarine Resources, JAMSTEC, 2-15 Natsushima, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan.

5 Corresponding author. Email: nimamura@ceoas.oregonstate.edu

Exploration Geophysics 49(1) 21-29 https://doi.org/10.1071/EG17139
Submitted: 23 October 2017  Accepted: 25 October 2017   Published: 27 November 2017
Originally submitted to SEGJ 1 October 2016, accepted 22 September 2017  

Abstract

Data processing techniques are often used to estimate the noise-free response of marine controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) data and magnetotelluric transfer functions. We have implemented a new CSEM data processing scheme that uses a robust method based on independent component analysis (ICA) to extract interpretable datasets from noisy marine CSEM data. We applied the data processing scheme to signals from a new CSEM observation system comprising a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and an ocean bottom electromagnetometer (OBEM). These datasets were obtained around the Iheya North hydrothermal field, Okinawa Trough, Japan. The observation system allows a small-scale CSEM survey to be conducted in areas of steep topography, such as hydrothermal fields, because the ROV can deploy the OBEM at the exact observation site. The results show that the coherent and environment noise that exists in the raw time series is reduced sufficiently by ICA processing. It makes interpretation of the resulting electric field data possible. The results also show that the processed data has a higher signal-to-noise ratio in the middle-to-high-frequency band than the data without ICA. The normalised spectrum, obtained by normalising the observed data from the hydrothermal area, indicates that a conductive anomaly exists in the near-offset area around the OBEM. We apply 2D inversion to the electric field data and find that a low resistivity body exists beneath the OBEM and 50 m offset from the OBEM. This resistivity structure is consistent with images taken by the ROV that show characteristic organisms in hydrothermal seepage around the OBEM site.

Key words: controlled-source electromagnetic method, hydrothermal vent, independent component analysis, Okinawa Trough, robust data processing.


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