Visualization and finite element techniques for seismic interpretation

-Computational seismic modeling (CSM) is beginning to play an important role in the geophysical industry all over the world. People now realize that CSM can be a new and effective aid to seismic interpreters. One of the most important factors that has accelerated the development of CSM has been the rapid progress of supercomputers. With the increase in data obtained by the CSM research, the importance of visualization of the computed results began to be recognized. The idea of visualization is not new; because massive amounts of numeric data are far more comprehensible when converted into graphical form, visualization is becoming an intimate part of many areas of research. Techniques for visualization, however, are still being developed, and visualization research is just beginning to be recognized as a cornerstone of future computer science. As scientists bring increasingly complex problems to computer science, visualization will become an even more essential tool for extracting science out of numbers. In this paper, specific visualization algorithms and finite element techniques for CSM research are presented using supercomputing facilities. This computing and graphics environment constitutes a "numerical laboratory." One can simulate and visualize the complex evolution of seismic waves by doing "computer experiments," which have emerged as a third method for investigating nature and complementing traditional experimental and theoretical work. This paper begins with a discussion of the CSM. Then, it describes the facilities of the CSMFEM numerical laboratory, and presents an example of an experiment carried out in one. It concludes with the direction in which this approach may to lead over the next few years.