Abstract: According certain aspects, embodiments of the invention consider the problem of microseismic event localization from a parameter estimation perspective, and include a method and system for computing and displaying characteristics of event localization errors. According to certain other aspects, embodiments of the invention include techniques for deriving aggregate statistics from a set of event location estimates, including methods for computing and displaying the probability that an event occurred in any given volume, and methods for describing and displaying the smallest volume that contains a specified percentage of the event probability or expected to contain the specified percentage of the events.

Abstract: The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for using head waves to greatly improve microseismic event localization accuracy, particularly in the depth dimension, by analyzing them in addition to direct path arrivals whenever they are observed. Embodiments of the invention also include techniques known as multipath analysis.

Abstract: In the field of seismic data analysis, the problem of estimating features of a microseismic event waveform, detected at the sensors of a geophone array in the presence of background seismic energy and sensor noise, is considered. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and system for estimating wavefront arrival times and polarizations across the sensors of an array, while simultaneously extracting the associated event sensor waveforms from the seismic background. The resulting waveform estimates are estimated in such a way that estimation errors are expected to be noise-like, and free of any systematic changes in the magnitude or phase of the arriving wavefronts.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to microseismic event analysis, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for modeling microseismic event location estimate accuracy. According to certain aspects, the present invention provides a framework for analytically studying microseismic source location estimation accuracy and further provides new geometric intuitions and quantitative relationships that aid in the understanding of this problem. These intuitions and expressions can be shown to be in agreement with current observations in the state of the art.