Basic Research Needs for Geosciences - Energetics Meetings and ...

PANEL REPORT: SUBSURFACE CHARACTERIZATIONassigned more rapidly. The ability to detect, diagnose, and remediate leakage problems dependscritically on effective characterization and monitoring.Finally, the broad area of subsurface monitoring and environmental remediation will benefitfrom new and diverse measurement technologies and more integrated instrumentation, and byensuring that all types of man-made disposal and storage processes in the subsurface havepredictable consequences. In civil engineering, more effective methods can improve our abilityto monitor new or aging underground infrastructure, and reduce the cost and risk for managingthe subsurface.Impacts for other fieldsThe challenge of effectively describing complex systems is also faced in other fields of science.Among the problems that share the complex, multiscale behavior found in subsurface systemsare: the Earth’s climate system; turbulence, stirring and mixing in fluids; and reactive flow. Theresearch described in this report on imaging, data fusion, uncertainty estimation, and uncertaintyreduction has consequences for other fields such as medical imaging, non-destructive testing,process monitoring, and material science. The proposed work on smart tracers, in particular,interfaces with medical research (treatment and diagnostics), materials science, manufacturing,and process control.48 Basic Research Needs for Geosciences: Facilitating 21 st Century Energy Systems