New airborne compliance monitoring techniques for seismic operations

The Petroleum Group of Primary Industries and Resources of South Australia has a regulatory responsibility to ensure seismic operations are carried out with minimal impact to the environment. As part of this role, continual improvements are made to techniques that are employed in monitoring compliance of seismic field operations with environmental requirements. An innovative airborne video monitoring system has been developed to improve the effectiveness of assessing seismic field outcomes on the environment. This system increases the efficiency and effectiveness of monitoring extensive seismic lines in often environmentally sensitive or logistically challenging areas. This system complements traditional ground-based methods of inspecting seismic operations. The aim of the system is to ensure that correct procedures are employed during seismic line preparation and that appropriate restorative work is carried out, to facilitate natural recovery of seismic lines. The primary characteristics of the surveillance system are that it enables a stable and continuous video recording of large amounts of seismic lines in a short time, observations are environmentally non-invasive and observations can be made over terrain that may otherwise be difficult to access by ground-based systems. The airborne system has been developed using low-cost, compact, readily available and proven technologies and equipment. It has proven to be economic and versatile for a variety of airborne monitoring operations.