View source for Edinburgh Anisotropy Project: British Geological Survey

{{Infobox biography
| image = [[File:EAP_logo2.png|180px]]
| surname = Edinburgh Anisotropy Project
| BSc =
| MSc =
| PhD =
| BSc university =
| MSc university =
| PhD university =
| Company = British Geological Survey
| President year = 
| Membership = 
}}

'''The Edinburgh Anisotropy Project''' at the British Geological Survey[http://www.bgs.ac.uk/] has made many significant
advances in seismic anisotropy research over the past 24 years. The main technical achievements
of EAP include: fracture identification and characterization based on shear-wave splitting
and azimuthal characteristics of P-wave attributes; improving the industry’s awareness of the
effects of seismic anisotropy and the processing of anisotropic seismic data; advancing the use of
multicomponent seismic data in the industry; and enhancing seismic imaging techniques for both
PP and converted waves in the presence of anisotropy. EAP has also contributed many highly
qualified scientists to the geophysical community. Today EAP continues its pioneering research
in relating seismic anisotropy to petroleum reservoir characterization. Through a large cohort of
graduate students from the University of Edinburgh, EAP has authored over 100 SEG abstracts,
and a plethora of papers in Geophysics, The Leading Edge, and many other journals.

== Citation for the SEG [[Distinguished Achievement Award]] ==
''Contributed by [[Gary Hampson]], [[Rodney Johnston]], and [[Wenjie Dong]]

It is our pleasure to provide a citation in support of
a Distinguished Achievement Award for the Edinburgh
Anisotropy Project (EAP), a sustained research effort over
the last 24 years which has substantially advanced the science
of exploration geophysics by demonstrating the presence,
analysis and value of seismic anisotropy.

EAP began as a result of [[Stuart Crampin]]’s lifetime
quest to predict earthquakes. During the 1970s and
1980s, Stuart and his colleagues at the British Geological
Survey (BGS) set up the Turkish Dilatancy Project (TDP)
which comprised a series of 3C seismology networks in
Turkey to investigate shear-wave splitting over small
earthquake swarms. TDP confirmed the observation of
shear-wave splitting in rocks with stress-aligned cracks,
with a fast (slow) wave polarized parallel (normal) to the
fracture planes with the time-delay between them an indication
of fracture density. This gained the attention of the
oil industry in the 1980s. Through the enlightened management
of [[Chris Browitt]] and academic charm of [[Stuart Crampin]], 12 major oil companies agreed to support
a program of research called the Edinburgh Anisotropy
Project with additional support from the UK’s Natural
Environmental Research Council (NERC). This was the
first sponsorship of its kind in the venerable 150-year history
of the British Geological Survey.

Under Stuart’s leadership, EAP initially focused on
whether the shear-wave splitting observed in earthquake
data could also be found in exploration data. Today, substantially
through the contributions of EAP, anisotropy is
widely accepted as present in most seismic data sets and
techniques pioneered by EAP are used for its analysis.
After seven years, Stuart passed the baton to Colin
Macbeth who led EAP for five years. Colin worked on
many fundamental aspects of anisotropic wave propagation,
data acquisition, wavefield analysis and VSPs, much
of which is summarized in a book.

In 1999, leadership passed to [[Xiang-Yang Li]]. The
focus grew to include the use of wide-azimuth P-wave
and converted-wave data for fracture characterization,
while continuing to understand the response of shearwave
splitting. Xiang-Yang’s leadership was characterized
by pragmatic approaches supported by scientific
rigor that the sponsors could employ in their analysis of
seismic anisotropy (having been developed and tested
on sponsor data sets). The familiar company mergers
of the late 1990s precipitated strong funding challenges
for EAP. Xiang-Yang and colleagues worked tirelessly to
ensure the necessary industrial sponsorship and at the
same time succeeded in doubling the NERC funding in
1999. During this period, Enru Liu and [[Mark Chapman]]
joined the project and enhanced EAP’s fundamental research
into anisotropic rock physics principles and models.
[[Hengchang Dai]] and Alexander Druzhinin focused on
converted-wave data processing in the presence of anisotropy
and anisotropic depth imaging.

Over the last several years, EAP has developed a new
research focus on frequency-dependent anisotropy for
characterization of fracture scale length and fluid content,
supported by rock physics model-based inverse schemes.
In 2012, leadership of EAP passed to Mark Chapman,
who undoubtedly will continue its tradition in linking
science and research to practical applications.

During its 24 years, EAP’s research interests and
contributions have spanned fracture characterization and
anisotropic imaging through techniques such as data processing,
interpretation, modeling and acquisition design;
all rest on the fundamentals of anisotropic wave propagation
and rock physics. In 1988, few people in our industry
were aware that seismic anisotropy existed. Today,
largely because of EAP, its presence is universally accepted,
not only by academic and industry researchers but also
by seismic processing and interpretation practitioners.
Considerable progress has been made to accommodate
its effects in workflows and it is now widely exploited as
a source of useful information in seismic data sets. EAP
remains the major contributor to this paradigm shift.

[[Category:Research and laboratories]]