Moment Estimation from Time Domain Electromagnetic Data

Abstract

Moment representations have been proposed to facilitate the interpretation of geophysical time domain electromagnetic responses. We present a new methodology for estimating these moments from field data for different system waveforms when on-time and off-time measurements are available. Quadrature impulse response moments are estimated by a recursive relation involving moments of the input waveform and moments of the observed response. After adapting this method to time domain electromagnetic applications—in particular, MEGATEM and AeroTEM (AirTEM) airborne electromagnetic systems—we present the results from applying this method on synthetic and real data collected over the Reid–Mahaffy test site in northern Ontario, Canada.