Interactive Explorers: Useful geophysical tools

Charles P. Ursenbach

In this Research Note, an overview is presented of some useful visual web-based programs for investigating topics of geophysical interest. The Zoeppritz Explorer allows one to display all reflection and transmission coefficients for arbitrary earth parameters, and to view the effect of interactively changing the earth parameters. This may be done both with the exact coefficients and with two approximations as well. The Reflectivity Explorer focuses on RPP, RPS, and RSS, but explores a wider range of approximations, particularly those of interest to AVO studies. The AniZoeppritz Explorer allows one to manipulate the , , and anisotropy parameters and angle of azimuth for a linear approximation to RPP. This is also useful in AVO applications. The AVO Inversion Explorer is somewhat different than the other explorers. It was designed to permit the assessment of AVO inversion schemes for various choices of lithology, VP-VS ratio, and offset range.