Remote sensing of seismic vibrations by laser Doppler interferometry

Abstract

The objective of this work is to sense seismic particle motion by recovering the Doppler shift of a laser beam that is directed to various ground spots from a remote location. This paper presents results from two field tests using experimental, laser‐based, data acquisition systems. In the first test, strong ground‐roll vibrations were detected at an 800-m range by reflecting the beam directly from various terrain targets. The weaker, seismic‐reflection events were inundated by a noise associated with propagation of the laser beam through the atmosphere. The second test used a novel optical interferometer that cancelled the turbulence noise. A reflector apparatus is needed at the ground target position to cancel the turbulence effects in this system.

3D Seismic Survey Design, Second edition

“…Part of his dream was to hover with a helicopter over an area on a dark night and watch the geophones light up when a sound wave hit them. (A later version of this idea using laser interferometry is described by Berni [1994].) It turned out to be more practical to invoke reciprocity and use an areal grid of thumper positions being recorded in a geophone patch in the center.…”

Removing residual airborne sensor motion for measuring seismic signals from a drone

“…Much progress has been made recently in proving the feasibility of LDV-based seismic measurements from stationary, mobile, airborne, and even space-borne platforms. The feasibility of remotely detecting ground motion caused by seismic waves was proven successful from a stationary platform positioned 800 m away from a vibrating target of interest (Berni 1991(Berni , 1994. More recently, work by Dräbenstedt et al (2016) shows that a closer, yet mobile, LDV system equipped with a vibration isolation system can enable remote seismic measurements from a terrestrial vehicle, even in a windy acquisition environment.…”

Estimation of flow properties using surface deformation and head data: A trajectory‐based approach

“…Perhaps this will change as instruments for measuring surface deformation improve. For example, there are laser ranging systems for accurately measuring distances, which could be used to monitor variations due to pumping [Berni, 1994;Dorney et al, 2003]. With the advent of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) it is possible to obtain highresolution observations of surface displacement numerous times during the year [Burgmann et al, 2000;Ferretti et al, 2001;Colesanti et al, 2003].…”