Effective and Accurate Processing and Inversion of Airborne Electromagnetic Data

Abstract

Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) data is used throughout the world for mapping of mineral targets and groundwater resources. The development of technology and inversion algorithms has been tremendously over the last decade and results from these surveys are high-resolution images of the subsurface.

In this keynote talk, we discuss an effective inversion algorithm, which is both subjected to intense research and development as well as production. This is the well know Laterally Constrained Inversion (LCI) and Spatial Constrained Inversion algorithm. The same algorithm is also used in a voxel setup (3D model) and for sheet inversions. An integral part of these different model discretization is an accurate modelling of the system transfer function and of auxiliary parameters like flight altitude, bird pitch, etc.