How to get paid big bucks

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Yesterday I asked 'What is inversion?' and started looking at problems in geoscience as either forward problems or inverse problems. So what are some examples of inverse problems in geoscience? Reversing our forward problem examples:

  • Given a suite of sedimentological observations, provide the depositional environment. This is a hard problem, because different environments can produce similar-looking facies. It is ill-conditioned, because small changes in the input (e.g. the presence of glaucony, or Cylindrichnus) produces large changes in the interpretation.
  • Given a seismic trace, produce an impedance log. Without a wavelet, we cannot uniquely deduce the impedance log — there are infinitely many combinations of log and wavelet that will give rise to the same seismic trace. This is the challenge of seismic inversion. 

To solve these problems, we must use induction — a fancy name for informed guesswork. For example, we can use judgement about likely wavelets, or the expected geology, to constrain the geophysical problem and reduce the number of possibilities. This, as they say, is why we're paid the big bucks. Indeed, perhaps we can generalize: people who are paid big bucks are solving inverse problems...

  • How do we balance the budget?
  • What combination of chemicals might cure pancreatic cancer?
  • What musical score would best complement this screenplay?
  • How do I act to portray a grief-stricken war veteran who loves ballet?

What was the last inverse problem you solved?