surfacetosubsurface

Surfacetosubsurface is a concept used in geosciences and environmental engineering to describe approaches that infer the properties, geometry, and dynamics of the subsurface from observations made at or near the surface. It encompasses methods that connect surface signals such as gravity and magnetic fields, seismic surface waves, electrical resistivity, ground deformation, and hydrological measurements to subsurface lithology, porosity, permeability, fluid pressures, fracture networks, and aquifer boundaries.

Techniques in surfacetosubsurface include joint or multi-physics inversion, data assimilation, and forward modeling, often integrating borehole logs, core data, and petrophysical relationships with surface geophysical images. Methods such as gravity and magnetic surveys, electrical resistivity tomography, seismic tomography, and InSAR-derived deformation data are common, alongside near-surface tools like ground-penetrating radar. Modern work frequently employs machine learning to relate surface observations to subsurface properties and to support uncertainty quantification and model updating.

Applications span groundwater resource assessment and management, contaminant fate and transport studies, geothermal reservoir characterization, and CO2 sequestration monitoring. It also supports mineral and oil exploration, mining, civil engineering foundation design, and monitoring of subsurface hazards such as subsidence or fault slip.

Challenges include non-uniqueness of solutions, differences in spatial and temporal resolution between surface and subsurface data, heterogeneity and anisotropy of subsurface properties, sparse borehole control, and measurement noise. Uncertainty quantification and robust integration of diverse data sources are ongoing areas of development.

Although not a formal discipline with a single standardized methodology, surfacetosubsurface serves as an umbrella term for efforts that integrate surface observations with subsurface models to improve understanding and prediction of underground processes.