Tokyo, Japan
June 26–27
After fully enjoying the Arashiyama area at Kyoto (thanks to suggestions from Shiori!), we got on to a Shinkansen (fast train) to head to Tokyo. Keiko (from Waseda Univ.) greeted us at the Shinagwa station. As we expected, Tokyo was a huge city, lots of people, cars, and skyscrapers — such a contrast between the country-side of the Kyoto area (Katsura) and here in Tokyo! After a small celebration dinner for Dr. Keiko, we wrapped up our first day in Tokyo.
Fortunately, we had one more day to charge ourselves up and fine-tune both the DISC course and lab for Tokyo. We also had a chance to have dinner with Yuji (a director at AIST-GSJ), and discus potential interests for the participants. We captured a drone-EM case history that Yuji is working on (attached in the appendix). From the discussion with Yuji, we recognized that most of the participants are professionals having their own projects related to EM geophysics; this would be a perfect audience for us. Our excitement was high for the DISC at Tokyo.
DISC day
The DISC course was held at Waseda Univ. in Tokyo. About 35 people from various universities (Tokyo, Waseda, Kyoto), companies (JAPEX, JGI, INPEX, JOGMEC, OYO) and institutions (AIST-GSJ) attended. Most of them were professionals, except two students from Waseda University. The room for the DISC event was a perfect size, and was full of energy from the participants who wanted to know about fundamentals EM applications, and its potential use for their projects.
As in Korea and Kyoto, we presented only a portion of the DISC course on the first day. The slower pace allowed participants to digest the content. We prepared a few questions for each section (similar to Kyoto) and used the apps to interact with the participants. At least 10 people in the room had some experience of using EM techniques.
We finished the DC and EM fundamentals in the morning. Thanks to a good internet connection at Waseda Univ., a number of participants tried the apps through Azure notebooks while Doug was asking questions. Participants played with the apps during lunch and at break times.
The afternoon started with inductive sources. After two airborne EM case histories (Kasted and Bookpurnong), we also presented a drone-EM case history using a frequency domain system to detect cars buried in a recent landslide in Japan (from Yuji, GSJ). The system is like a miniaturized Resolve system with horizontal coplanar loops. The challenge is keep the sensors far enough away from the drone to minimize EM noise and also fly the sensor very close to the earth. This example resonated with participants.
For the grounded source section of the course we presented a case history on methane hydrates which is of great interest in Japan. Marine EM and MT were then presented, and we finished our first day with those topics. In the following morning, Doug reviewed what we had learned on the first day, and continued with the IP and Future sections. In the future section, a SAGD example was highlighted; it shows the application of multi-stage EM experiments: broad scale airborne EM to borehole EM (surface ground loops and borehole receivers). Overall, participants were engaged and excited to see potential use of EM geophysics for their problems that they are up against. Additionally, a number of participants mentioned that the DISC course was a great way for them to network with fellow Japanese geoscientists who are interested in EM geophysics.
Quotes:
“I usually use seismic. I now understand the difference between EM and Seismic and their usage. This was very important for me” — Hideaki Ban (JOGMEC TRC)
“The lecture enables me to keep and develop good communication with geoscientists who use EM methods” — Hisako Mochinaga
“This event was a very good opportunity to meet and have discussions with Japanese EM geophysicists. Thank you very much!” — Keiko Nakayama (Researcher, Waseda Univ.)
“Introducing the apps, which could be used for free, is a very good idea to help learn the practical experiments of EM. I really appreciate it” — Ehsan Jamali Hondori (Seismic data processor)
“The lecture was easy to understand both by beginners and professionals, and also intuitive. Especially, I really understood the essence of the CSEM with grounded wires, which was hardly provided by a general textbook.” — Shogo Komori (Geological Survey of Japan, AIST)
“It was a really good opportunity to recap the fundamentals of EM methods, as well as their practical considerations. I definitely will come back to your textbook if I happen to work on EM.” — Kazunori Takakhashi (Research Engineer at Oyo Corp.)
“The DISC for this year is NOT like a typical lecture in Japan. People are likely to be silent in many cases, but in this class, the audience members were very active in communication and in Q&A.” — Koji Kashihara (Senior manager of R&D oil company)
DISC lab
After a short coffee break, we continued our second day with presentations from participants. Around 10 people presented, but some people had confidentiality issues and hence could not share their materials.
An interpretation problem in MT methods (link) / Sho Aibe, Sumiko
Sho showed his interpretation of MT data that he obtained at a geothermal site in Japan.
Marine TDEM systems using ROV for SMS (link) / Keiko Nakyama, Wadea Univ.
Keiko is participating in the development of a towed-loop EM system for use in marine environments. Detection and delineation of seafloor massive sulfides (SMS) is a main target for Waseda University.
Case studies at (a) Hokusatu District, Southern Kyushu, Japan and (b) Erdenet copper mine, Mongolia (link) / Hajime Hishida, Marubeni Corporation
Hajime is a geophysical consultant at a mining company. He introduced both airborne EM and airborne mag. surveys used for detecting gold (in Japan) and copper (in Mongolia).
TDEM methods for the Oil Sands exploration in Canada (link) /Takafumi Murakita, Waseda Univ.
Takafumi is interested in using time domain EM method to monitor the SAGD process.
Influence of magnetic soils on metal detector (link) / Kazunori Takahashi, Oyo Corp.
Kazunori is interested in removing effects of magnetic soil in TDEM data.
After participants’ presentations, we gave a brief 1D MT tutorial since there was significant interest among participants to learn about SimPEG. We did not have enough time to go through the prepared tutorial but showed the gist of it, and pointed out places where participants can get started. We wrapped up the SEG-DISC events at Tokyo with small banquet prepared in Waseda University.
Acknowledgement
DISC 2017 in Korea would not have happened without the support from local participants to help organize logistics and encourage people to attend. In particular, Saito, Koji, Keiko, and Yuji.
Behind the scene …
We visited Mt. Fuji with Saito and Keiko!
