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Geode and StrataVIsor NZ System

Oz Yilmaz, Anatolian Geophysical
Really, really impressed! [after a demonstration of the Geode user interface]

I wish to express my sincere appreciation for the Geode recording system from Geometrics. I have used the system successfully in several projects for site investigation and seismic microzonation. The ruggedness of the system combined with its unsurpassed reliability have enabled us to conduct our field work with confidence. Additionally, the quality control and test

functionalities of the system give us the ability to achieve problem-free recording of data in the field.

I thank you for making our field work an enjoyable activity with the Geode recording system, and wish you all the success in your future developments.
Dr. Oz Yilmaz, Director
Anatolian Geophysical
28 Lalebayiri, Kemer Country
Kemerburgaz, IStabul 34077
Turkey

University of Alberta
- as you know we are pretty happy with the system. .............. we have been pretty busy with it (till this hiatus). As you know, in 2002 we did the Arctic work which is soon to be published. I spent last September in Ghana with 3 boxes (and I should have shipped more) - the primary reason was for purposes of VSP's in Lake Bosumtwi but we did a lot of hammer and far-offset into the boxes from the airguns on the Lake too. This was under humid and hot near 'jungle' conditions with no problems. Last year we also employed a few boxes on top of Turtle Mountain for hammer seismic. And the big program in 2004 was the 10 km long high res seismic line we shot in Northern Alberta where we were able to delineate a deep channel.
Dr. Doug Schmitt
University of Alberta

COWI Consulting Engineers and Planners A/S
"Congratulations with your new Geode and MGOS system!

I was pleasantly surprised how easily it was to get the system to operate. I just installed the MGOS software in less than 5 minutes on my usual Laptop. Restarted the Laptop and connected the Geodes to the build-in netcard. Started MGOS and every thing worked as expected.

I look forward to work with the system in the field for the next many years. I have been working with engineering seismic systems for more than 20 years, and the Geode and MGOS system is the must flexible engineering seismic system I have been working with. If a Geode or the Laptop breaks down, I can just replace it with a spare unit and be operational again within a short time.

It is very valuable that a engineering seismic system is flexible and can be maintained without assistance from specialised electronic engineers so the cost for operation and downtime can be minimised.
Regards, "
Dr. Carsten Ploug
COWI Consulting Engineers and Planners A/S
Parallelvej 2
DK-2800 Lyngby

Laboratoire de Geophysique Interne
"The small size and weight of the Geode are really appreciated, especially when it comes to carry everything to the top of La Soufriere volcano (under very wet conditions)."
Dr. Michel Dietrich
Laboratoire de Geophysique Interne
Universite Joseph Fourier
Grenoble, France

Shell International Exploration and Production
" With a recent modification, Geometrics' Geode system is capable of monitoring and recording seismic data on 200 channels continuously 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Shell International Exploration and Production, Inc. has purchased and accepted such a system and has been using it to simultaneously  monitor and record 192 channels at a 0.25 msec sampling interval. Geometrics' Multiple Geode Operating Software (MGOS) controller software is used to manage robotic tape libraries with sufficient throughput and capacity to accommodate the 185.5 megabytes per minute of data generated by the   experiment.

  The Geometrics Geode seismic recording system is composed of 24-bit 24-channel modules connected via a high-speed long-distance Ethernet network. Wide bandwidth and high dynamic range make the Geode suitable for reflection, tomography, VSP, refraction, crosshole or downhole surveys. "
Dr. David C. DeMartini

Kansas Geological Survey
"We have owned and operated Geometrics seismographs (including models: 2401, StrataView, StrataVisor, and Geodes) for more than 15 years. The Kansas Geological Survey has been completely satisfied with the performance and data these instruments have provided throughout the range of extreme environments we have operated them in (arctic regions at temperatures below -45 C to desert areas with blowing sand and temperatures above 45 C to the high moisture settings of swamps). Our instruments are mounted on ATVs and therefore are fully exposed to the outside elements. These seismographs have proven rugged and reliable, operating fully within specifications in spite of our excessive demands and rough handling."
Rick Miller
Geophysicist
Kansas Geological Survey
University of Kansas

Incorporated Research Institutes for Seismology (IRIS/PASSCAL)
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all you have done for us over the last ten years. We have four StrataVisors that are in the field almost continuously. They have been extremely reliable despite the rough handling they receive.

PASSCAL acts as a equipment facility for US research institutions. We loan the equipment to investigators for research and classroom education. These investigators receive little or no training in the use of the equipment before receiving it in the field. Yet the equipment is easy enough to use that they have no problems using the equipment with at most telephone support from our technicians.

When the equipment does need maintenance or system upgrading we have received outstanding support from your technical support staff. The prompt service has meant that we are able to support our users with a minimum of interruption to there projects.

We will be purchasing our first Geode system later this year and we look forward to another ten years.
James Fowler
Program Manager/PASSCAL/IRIS

Unversity of Kansas
Our seismic research program at the University of Kansas has been using Geometrics seismographs for more than 15 years. Our experience has been that they quickly and efficiently service what they sell, though service is infrequent. If I were buying a system today, I would stick with Geometrics.
Don Steeples , McGee Distinguished Professor of Geophysics
The University of Kansas

ETH Zurich
The Engineering and Environmental Geophysics Group at ETH Zürich owns ten 24-channel Geometric's Geodes. I understand that we were one of the earliest groups to purchase such systems. We have used them for a wide variety of projects that have included ultra-high resolution seismic reflection studies, relatively conventional seismic reflection surveying, surface and crosshole tomographic investigations and long-term microseismicity monitoring. The instruments are versatile, rugged and easy to use.

We are extremely pleased with the performance of these instruments and with the continued outstanding service provided by Geometrics personnel.
Dr. Alan Green 
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

ZSeis Reservoir Imaging
It is my pleasure to confirm that my company purchased five Geometrics, Inc. shallow exploration seismographs over the years 1998 - 2002. We use these frequently in a variety of conditions and we are completely satisfied with their performance.
Jim Minto
Vice President, Operations and Engineering
ZSeis

United States Geological Survey (using Geodes)
I want to thank you once again for the all of the effort that you and your colleagues at PGSI and associates at Geometrics put into the SAFOD P/GSI array experiment. We could not be more pleased with the data, including not only the 100% successful recording of the offset shots but also the fabulous earthquake recordings from the array. Your team worked very hard to make everything work and the spectacular results speak for themselves. As you know, we had incredibly good luck when an event in the target zone occurred on May 5. I think that we would have missed it had it not been for the alert monitoring by your crew. It will be one of the most critical pieces of data for steering SAFOD to the drilling target, without question.

William L. Ellsworth, Chief Scientist
Earthquake Hazards Team
U.S. Geological Survey, MS-977 Office 1-650-329-5020
345 Middlefield Road Fax 1-650-329-5617
Menlo Park, CA USA 94025 e-mail ellsworth@usgs.gov

StrataView R24

Geofisicos, SRL
As you know, we have a Strataview R24 (1996) and a 1977 Nimbus ES1200 with a CRT display. Both units are functional, but we don't use the ES1200 anymore as we would need to change the original printer which uses light-sensitive Kodak paper. We are planning to change the printer here with a thermal unit similar to the Strataview's so that we can use it for simple purposes such as down-hole measurements.

As you know, we have 18 instruments from several factories from the US, Canada, and France. The Strataview is by far the most reliable unit we have. In it's seven year lifetime it has only failed once, and we were able to replace the failing board here in Peru within a 4-day period after it broke. Your customer service was extremely quick and efficient. Four days after the board failed I was already back in the field and operating.

Besides reliability, working with our Geometrics unit is very nice and logical. There are no unusual and complicated steps during field operation. All parameters are easy to set and it measures signal beautifully. I look forward to keep working with Geometrics units for the years to come. They certainly are the best around.

Jose Arce
Geofisicos, SRL
Lima, Peru

Victoria University
 "I purchased an R24 seismograph on behalf of the Institute of Geophysics and  Dept. of Geology at Victoria University in 1993.  We have used the R24 for both teaching and research.  For teaching it is principally used for a 3^rd year Geophysics course in a class of 10 students.  We have found the R24 an excellent teaching device because of its logical menu driven operating system, clear display and general ease of use.  We have used it in wet and cold field conditions and it has always performed well.  It appears to be rugged enough for most field conditions.

 In research work we have found the R24 to be tremendously flexible.  For example we have used it for a reflection survey looking for active faulting in  a 50 m thick basin using  a record length of 0.125 s and sampling interval of 0.125 msec.  At the other end of the scale we used the R24 on a recent crustal structure project in the South Island of New Zealand.  Here refraction shots were recorded from offsets of up to 160km, on record lengths of 32 seconds and sampling interval of 2 msec.  The recorded data were excellent and compared more than favourably with those recorded on the Refteks and EDA'S.

" The R24 also proved useful and flexible when we wanted to do a 120 channel crustal reflection survey.  We hired 2 x 48 channel strata view's and coupled these with our R24 to produce a "seamless" 120 channel system.  This ability is an important asset to us as so many academic institutions have now purchased the Geometrics instruments including IRIS. Back up advice and help from the company has been excellent. I strongly recommend the R24 StrataView."
Dr. Tim Stern
Senior Lecturer in Geophysics
Research School of Earth Sciences
Victoria University at Wellington, New Zealand

"Almost exactly a year has passed since acquiring my R-24 seismograph and I thought a few comments might be in order. Apart from a few minor software glitches, all of which have been fixed, I have not experienced any problems with the instrument.  Reliability in the field is, to me, the most important asset of any item of geophysical equipment… breakdowns are expensive and trend to cloud the client's  perspective…I am pleased to report that there has been zero downtime with the R-24. There have been several instances in the past year  when I've worked alongside other geophysicists who were operating  other makes of engineering seismographs, and in each instance I have been  grateful that they, and not I, owned the other brands. The R-24 is truly a well engineered and carefully thought-out instrument. All of you at Geometrics are to be commended for a superior product."
Bruce B. Redpath
Geophysical Consultant and Author of Seismic  Refraction Exploration for Engineering Site Investigations

"…how pleased we've been  with the seismograph we purchased from you last year.  We've used it in a variety of geological environments, for a variety of projects acquiring surface seismic, marine seismic, and vertical seismic profiling data.  It's ease of operation and dependability has resulted in greatly reducing our operational costs as well as improving our data quality.  We've had no problems with the instrument at all."
Bob Bainer
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories
United States

"We have utilized our  systems on an almost continuous basis for the last few years, in a variety of seismic data acquisition modes, as well as for data manipulation and processing.  As you are probably aware, our seismic  survey areas range from high arctic dry-cold to more southern hot-humid environments; as well, our survey types include under-ice vertical hydrophone array and seabottom recording, both multichannel marine and land CDP reflection shooting, shear-wave downhole recording and conventional refraction surveys (P and S).
          Although the on-board hard disk capacity is quite sufficient for most jobs, we also have used a variety of external recording devices with the systems (bernoullis, external hard disks and zip drives) in order to maintain high – speed and high density data gathering.
          In the six – instrument – years usage so far, I recall only one day's downtime (it took you 24 hrs to get a replacement instrument to us in the boonies).
          Although I hate to admit it, being a previous heavy user and past champion of the Geometrics 1210F seismograph, I do like the on – board computer capabilities of the Strataview and the flexibility for adding post – acquisition processing packages (e.g. Eavesdropper for CDP, SIPIK for picking trace - -gathered downhole 3 – component, and Norminton for first look optimum offset gathers)."
Dr. Jim Hunter, Project Leader
Terrain Geophyics, Terrain Sciences Division
Geological Survey of Canada

StrataVisor NX 240 channel marine recording system:
"… CGOC had done very good high resolutions seismic job in 1997 by using your STRATA Rx [240 channel] recording system.  The functions and operations performance has been improved very much since did hard by engineers between both side.   Our client was satisfied  with seismic data.  Your STRATA Rx showed more high resolutions than another one since we have compared with another type of high resolutions than another one since we have compared with another type of high resolutions recording system  in same area.  Therefore, thanks for both engineers very much.

We had established a very good reputation to do the high resolutions seismic job in the Chinese water area.  I think that our STRATA Rx system will be done important role in doing high resolutions seismic job for future."

Yu Zhanhai
Vice President, China Offshore Geophysical Company, Bureau of Geophysical Prospecting