Preface to the Special Issue on “The 19th Electromagnetic Induction Workshop”

Abstract

Electromagnetic induction methods are used and continue to be developed for a wide range of applications, ranging from exploration near the Earth’s surface to investigations of the deep mantle. In this research, important scientific and societal challenges, such as to search for hydrocarbons and other Earth resources, to probe the structure and dynamics of the lithosphere, to study environmental issues and to monitor and mitigate natural hazards, are addressed. The Working Group I-2 of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy on ‘‘Electromagnetic Induction in the Earth’’ has held, since the Edinburgh, U.K., Workshop of 1972, biennial workshops. Here selected topics are extensively explored by the participants, in the form of oral and poster presentations and discussion sessions. An essential and important part of the EM Induction Workshops (EMIWs) has been invited review presentations on themes selected by the program committee. These themes vary from workshop to workshop; usually they highlight recent advances in rapidly evolving fields of electromagnetic induction, to introduce important new directions of research as well as to highlight and review results focusing on certain geological targets. The review papers presented at the workshops have traditionally been published as Special Issues of Surveys in Geophysics/Geophysical Surveys since the 1978 workshop in Murnau, Germany; the review papers from the few first workshops were published in Phys. Earth Planet. Int. and Acta Geodaet. Geophys. and Montanist. Acad. Sci. Hung. All in all these volumes contain 124 review papers and tutorials, including the papers in this present Special Issue. They constitute a very valuable resource for researchers and students, and, in the longer term, record the advances and developments of electromagnetic induction methods and studies. This Special Issue of Surveys in Geophysics contains five expanded articles from the six review papers presented at the 19th Workshop on Electromagnetic Induction in the Earth.