Contact
Professor, Faculty of Science - Physics
- msacchi@ualberta.ca
- Phone
- (780) 492-1060
- Address
-
3-105 Centennial Ctr For Interdisciplinary SCS II
11335 Saskatchewan Drive NWEdmonton ABT6G 2H5
Overview
Area of Study / Keywords
Geophysics Inverse Problems Seismology
About
Education/Positions
- BSc (1988), UNLP, Argentina
- Ph.D. (1996), UBC, Canada
- Assistant Professor, UofA, 1997-2001
- Associate Professor, UofA, 2001-2005
- Professor, UofA, 2005-
- Chair of Physics, UofA, 2010-2015
- Chair of Physics, UofA, 2016-2021
- Editor-in-chief, Geophysics, 2015-2017
- Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2020-
Recognitions
- 2012 CSEG Medal
- 2014 SEG Honorary Lecturer for Central and South America
- 2015 CSEG Distinguished Speaker
- 2018 CSEG Symposium in honor of M D Sacchi
- 2019 Vigil Kauffman Gold Medal Award
Research
In collaboration with graduate students, I have been researching in the area of statistical and transform methods for seismic data processing, waveform imaging and inversion in applied and global seismology. Over the past ten years, we have become recognized for the development of algorithms for multi-dimensional seismic data reconstruction, de-noising and the application of sparsity promoting methods to seismic data processing. We are currently studying problems of optimal acquisition design for simultaneous source acquisition, imaging, and full waveform inversion.
Teaching
- GEOPH 326 (Introduction to Seismic Imaging) Winter 2019
- PHYS 699 (Advanced methods for geophysicists) Winter 2019
- GEOPH 326 (Introduction to Seismic Imaging) Winter 2018
- GEOPH 326 (Introduction to Seismic Imaging) Winter 2017
- PHYS 699 (Full waveform inversion) Winter 2017
Announcements
Courses
GEOPH 326 - Seismic Imaging
Use of reflection and refraction seismology to image the Earth's interior, with application to gas/oil and mineral exploration and environmental assessment; study of current technologies utilized to acquire, image and interpret 2D and 3D data sets. Real data sets and computer assignments will be used to produce seismic images of the subsurface. Prerequisite: PHYS 281 or 230, MATH 215 or 209 or 317.
GEOPH 426 - Signal Processing in Geophysics
Application of time series analyses and image processing techniques to large geophysical data sets; sampling of data and problems of aliasing; one and two dimensional Fourier transforms; the Z transformation; spectral analysis, filtering, and deconvolution; application of 1D and 2D filtering to seismic and gravity/magnetic data analysis. Prerequisites: MATH 311, GEOPH 326, PHYS 234 or equivalent.
GEOPH 526 - Signal Processing in Geophysics
Application of time series analyses and image processing techniques to large geophysical data sets; sampling of data and problems of aliasing; one and two dimensional Fourier transforms; the Z transformation; spectral analysis, filtering, and deconvolution; application of computers in assignments. Note: This course cannot be taken for credit if credit has already been given for GEOPH 426.
GEOPH 531 - Geophysical Inverse Theory
Quantitative methods to determine the physical properties of the Earth from indirect geophysical observations; formal treatment of geophysical inverse theory; topics include linear and nonlinear inverse problems, regularization techniques, model norms and misfit, tomography, and case histories of interpretation and analysis. Note: This course cannot be taken for credit if credit has already been given for GEOPH 431.