2009 GSH/SEG Spring Symposium - Honoring Franklyn K. Levin
On March 4 & 5, approximately 170 people attended the GSH annual Spring Symposium
held at the Omni Palace in West Houston. The symposium of invited and contributed
papers highlighted recent innovations in seismic (land, marine, ocean-bottom, simultaneous
sources) and EM acquisition technology, along with related processing and interpretation
techniques. Throughout the program, speakers celebrated Frank’scontributions to geophysics
and their personal remembrances of his influence on them and their work.
Invited papers covered the latest developments in land and marine acquisition technologies,
including the implementation of simultaneous sources, marine vibrators (yes!), the optimization
of marine wide azimuthacquisition, the acquisition of OBC/OBS data, and the uses of coil
shooting for full-azimuth coverage and dual-sensor streamers for removing ghosts.
Shown also were excellent examples of subsurface images obtained from wide-azimuth data processed
with the most advanced imaging algorithms, such as anisotropic reverse time migration.
Several talks were followed by lively discussions on various topics (e.g., cable vs. wireless acquisition
on land, the physical mechanism behind slowvelocity noise in shallow marine data.)
Six guest speakers recognized Frank Levin’s contributions to a broad array of geophysical topics,
comprising seismicacquisition, processing, modeling, and theory. In addition, he inspired an
entire generation of geophysicists at Exxon and Western Geophysical,as well as the geophysical
community at large, to contribute to geophysical knowledge and to publish the results.
The dinner featured a toast and roast by Bob Wegner, a reminiscence by Frank’s youngest son
Philip, and a 60-year retrospective of the industry by Frank. There were numerous testimonials from
those gathered in an expression of heartfelt thanks for his contributions both technical and personal.
By all accounts it was a very successful event. This was the first time aquestionnaire polled
attendees to comment on technical content, facility accommodation, refreshment and
venue location. While there is always room for improvement, the general feedback was
most favorable regarding the event.
Also to be commended are the Symposium committee volunteers who gave a lot of their time
to ensure that the event met the highest possible standards and attracted quality presentations.
The GSH is indebted to the corporate sponsors who stepped up to the plate and were an
important factor in helping make this a successful event. Their continued commitment in
supporting technical conferences such as the Spring Symposium even in this challenging
economic environment is a testament to their belief that communication and spreading of
knowledge is a valuable investment in the future of our industry.
In a closing remark by Frank reflecting on his 60-year career, his longheld conviction that
publication was the cornerstone of accomplishment had now changed. He felt of equal
importance was collaboration with others and the nurturing of ideas. This feeling was
reinforced throughout the symposium’s proceedings.
31-Jan-12
|
Search This Site |
Home
| Schipul Web Design |
Tendenci® Membership Management Software |
Privacy
•
del.icio.us
digg
facebook