The Information Collected by Imaging Satellites: Examples of What It Tells Us, How to Get It, Ways It Saves the Explorationist Time and Money

David G. Koger

Satellite data are much in the news these days. They mapped Mars before the rovers landed, they recorded the destruction of hurricanes and tsunamis, help to manage our resources, and explore for hydrocarbons. We'll see before-and-after Tsunami pictures to detail the scope of destruction and how to plan for rebuilding.

The use of imagery to support hydrocarbon-related industries: exploration in frontier areas overseas with regional-scale analysis, more aggressive processing to support domestic mature basin work, the laying out and monitoring of pipelines; seismic and geochemistry surveys with up-to-date collections. Mapping fractures in the Barnett Shale is important because faults can suck energy from frac jobs, bring on the water, release overpressure, create more interference, and can seal reservoirs. We'll see examples of remote sensing photogeology applied to overseas and domestic exploration.