New advances in three‐dimensional controlled‐source electromagnetic inversion

SUMMARY New techniques for improving both the computational and imaging performance of the three‐dimensional (3‐D) electromagnetic inverse problem are presented. A non‐linear conjugate gradient algorithm is the framework of the inversion scheme. Full wave equation modelling for controlled sources is utilized for data simulation along with an efficient gradient computation approach for the model update. Improving the modelling efficiency of the 3‐D finite difference (FD) method involves the separation of the potentially large modelling mesh, defining the set of model parameters, from the computational FD meshes used for field simulation. Grid spacings and thus overall grid sizes can be reduced and optimized according to source frequencies and source–receiver offsets of a given input data set. Further computational efficiency is obtained by combining different levels of parallelization. While the parallel scheme allows for an arbitrarily large number of parallel tasks, the relative amount of message passing is kept constant. Image enhancement is achieved by model parameter transformation functions, which enforce bounded conductivity parameters and thus prevent parameter overshoots. Further, a remedy for treating distorted data within the inversion process is presented. Data distortions simulated here include positioning errors and a highly conductive overburden, hiding the desired target signal. The methods are demonstrated using both synthetic and field data.