1887

Abstract

Summary

Permafrost warming poses significant environmental and infrastructural challenges, including greenhouse gas release and increased landslide risks necessitating quantitative monitoring. Non-invasive geophysical methods, especially seismic and electrical techniques, are suitable because ice exhibits higher P-wave velocity and electrical resistivity than unfrozen water, making them sensitive to changes in ground ice content. However, single-method approaches can be ambiguous; for example, both ice and air act as electrical insulators.

To address this, a petrophysical joint inversion (PJI) method was developed that estimates volumetric fractions of liquid water, ice, and air from apparent resistivity and seismic traveltime data. A remaining ambiguity is between ice and rock matrix content, as high ice content can mimic low porosity. We extended the PJI along the time axis, assuming constant porosity, and introduced temporal regularization to enforce smooth parameter evolution.

Synthetic experiments demonstrate that the time-lapse PJI improves porosity and ice estimation compared to the traditional PJI, enhancing ground ice quantification from surface geophysical data. Future work includes refining regularization parameters, incorporating advanced petrophysical models, extending to additional geophysical methods, and integrating thermal-hydraulic process models to further enhance the reliability and applicability of geophysical monitoring, contributing to a deeper understanding of permafrost responses to environmental changes.

© EAGE Publications BV
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/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202520247
2025-09-07
2026-02-13

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References

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/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202520247
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Time-Lapse Petrophysical Joint Inversion of Electrical Resistivity and Seismic Refraction Data for Ground Ice Quantification
Conference Proceedings 2025, 1 (2025); https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.202520247
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202520247
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202520247
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