Abstract
To reduce the dependence of EM inversion on the choice of initial model and to obtain the global minimum, we apply transdimensional Bayesian inversion to time-domain airborne electromagnetic data. The transdimensional Bayesian inversion uses the Monte Carlo method to search the model space and yields models that simultaneously satisfy the acceptance probability and data fitting requirements. Finally, we obtain the probability distribution and uncertainty of the model parameters as well as the maximum probability. Because it is difficult to know the height of the transmitting source during flight, we consider a fixed and a variable flight height. Furthermore, we introduce weights into the prior probability density function of the resistivity and adjust the constraint strength in the inversion model by changing the weighing coefficients. This effectively solves the problem of unsatisfactory inversion results in the middle high-resistivity layer. We validate the proposed method by inverting synthetic data with 3% Gaussian noise and field survey data.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the reviewers and AP editors for comments and suggestions that improved the manuscript. We also wish to thank the members of the electromagnetic research group at Jilin University.
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This paper was financially supported by the Key National Research Project of China (Nos. 2017YFC0601900 and 2016YFC0303100), and the Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41530320) and Surface Project (No. 41774125).
Gao Zong-Hui, a master graduate student. In 2017, she obtained a bachelor’s degree from the College of Geo-Exploration Science and Technology, Jilin University. Now she is studying for a master’s degree at the College of Geo-Exploration Science and Technology, Jilin University. Her major is earth exploration and information technology. She mainly engages in research on geophysical electromagnetic forward and inverse theory as well as method techniques.
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Gao, ZH., Yin, CC., Qi, YF. et al. Transdimensional Bayesian inversion of time-domain airborne EM data. Appl. Geophys. 15, 318–331 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-018-0684-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-018-0684-7