NSF Award
0317782
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to develop a multi-coil surface NMR imaging for 3-D groundwater imaging and characterization. Surface NMR techniques are generating interest in the groundwater exploration community because of their unique ability to directly detect groundwater, and to distinguish between bound and unbound groundwater. Present surface NMR techniques can produce, at best, an estimate of the 1-dimensional groundwater density profile directly beneath the coil. These 1-D profile estimates are subject to a variety of errors stemming from the use of a single surface coil, and inaccurate 1- D models of the coil fields and water density profiles. The goal of this project is to develop a 3-D surface NMR groundwater imaging system based on coherent multi- coil array processing. <br/> The commercial impact of this technology will be an inexpensive, low-energy and non-invasive groundwater exploration method. This technology could have significant positive impacts on both world health and natural resource management.
