b'Environmental geophysicsEnvironmental geophysicsWelcome readers to this issues column onin these, although there is mention of geophysics applied to the environmentthe stress and exhaustion involved in We are now on Scenes 5 and 6 of thesetting up a conference I completely reminiscences by Niels Christensensympathise, as would many of you who on his career at Aarhus University andhave done similar Also, for those of us that groups progress into and throughwho are looking to educate the next crop electrical geophysics starting in the 1970sof geophysicistssome of the references through to the 1990s and beyond Therethat Niels mentions here may be useful are no geophysical war stories per seOver to NielsMike Hatch Associate Editorfor Environmental geophysics michael.hatch@adelaide.edu.auPivotal moments: Seven scenes from a geophysics adventureof revelation for me that many otherscale hydrogeological investigation in geophysicists in the world were engagedthe Beder area - a case studyin the same subjects as I was It made meKurt Srensen Pulled array continuous feel part of community, where I couldelectrical profilingbe one of the pioneers in a new researchKurt Srensen The Ellog auger drilling field I had found a professional home methodPeter M Duch and Kurt Srensen I totally enjoyed the conference, andWhen Is 1D 2D? Interpretation of my American network of geophysicistsgeoelectrical sectionswas renewed and extended As the conference went on, I could see thatIm listing the presentations here what we did in Aarhus was in no waybecause they show what subjects we inferior to what was presented at thewere actually working on at the time; Niels B. Christensen conference, and I was itching to presentsubjects that came to characterise our Professor Emeritus our work in a community like SAGEEPefforts and approaches in the years Department of Earth Sciences I knew it would be well received Theto come The conference became a Aarhus UniversitySAGEEP conference is an annual event,decisive moment where our research nbc@geo.au.dk and when I returned home, I startedgroup opened up towards the to infuse colleagues and PhD studentsinternational community of near-Scene 5: An internationalwith my own enthusiasm It was a bitsurface geophysicists, in particular breakthrough of an uphill battle to make peoplethe Americans Our presentations understand (but it is so far away!made quite a few people talk aboutin which a group of Danes make their ) that we should all go to the 1994those guys from Aarhus, and who presence felt on the North Americanconference in Boston SAGEEP was THEwere they actually - and, anyway, how continent, in Europe and Australia, andplace to present our work I manageddid you pronounce Aarhus? Over the invite people to come to beautiful Aarhus. to twist enough arms (in I Ching it says:coming years, SAGEEP became the Perseverance is recommendable) so thatmost important international forum In 1993 I participated in my first SAGEEPquite a few colleagues, PhD and Masterswhere we presented our work, and our conference which was held in San Diego,students accompanied me to the Bostonnetwork expanded, especially in the California The conference focusedconference It turned out that we did 7%US The Boston conference became the primarily on near-surface geophysics,of all presentations at the conference,pivotal moment that came to define our which up to that point in time hadamong them were these: international orientation: We became been treated as a somewhat suspiciousknown and appreciated internationally, snotty-nosed upstart at most geophysicsNiels B Christensen and Kurt Srensenand, internally, amongst ourselves, it conferences, eg SEG and EAGE, whereIntegrated use of electromagneticchanged our perception of who we the main emphasis was - and stillmethods for hydrogeologicalwere I was no longer the only person is - on the deeper parts of the Earth,investigations who wanted to present internationally in particular seismic methods used inEsben Auken, Niels B Christensen, KurtAt the 1995 SAGEEP conference in the oil and gas industry It was a kindSrensen, and Flemming Effers LargeKeystone, Colorado, a group of people OCTOBER 2022 PREVIEW 30'