Introduction to this special section: Near-surface imaging and modeling

Abstract

This special section on near-surface imaging and modeling was intended originally to focus on improving deeper imaging for exploration purposes through more accurate representations of the near surface, the highly variable zone that energy must traverse through on the way down and back up again to be recorded at the surface. However, as proposed manuscript topics started coming in, it became clear that this section would cover a wider range, from kilometers down to meters. Papers in this section highlight a range of near-surface-related work that includes applying full-waveform inversion (FWI) to improve near-surface velocity models, identifying potential sinkhole hazards before they collapse, the potential of smartphones as geophysical sensors, and new open-source software for ground-penetrating radar data.