
Dan R. Glaser- PhD Candidate
- Research Geophysicist at Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
Dan R. Glaser
- PhD Candidate
- Research Geophysicist at Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
Near Surface Geophysics - Cryogeophysics - Hydrogeophysics - Environmental Geophysics - Pedophysics - Petrophysics
About
110
Publications
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Introduction
My interests are broad in the field of near surface geophysical applications with experience and interest in electrical resistivity, spectral induced polarization (SIP), seismic and acoustic methods, electromagnetic induction, and ground penetrating radar (GPR) applications for subsurface characterization and monitoring. Specifically, as these pertain to our understanding of cold region subsurface processes and target detection.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
April 2016 - present
North River Geophysics, LLC
Position
- Chief Geophysicist
September 2009 - April 2011
December 2014 - September 2015
Hager Geoscience, Inc
Position
- Senior Geophysicist / Senior Project Manager
Education
September 2019 - May 2023
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, United States
Field of study
- Near Surface Geophysics
January 2009 - May 2011
August 2000 - May 2002
Publications
Publications (110)
Within the last decade efforts in geophysical detection and monitoring
of fossil fuel releases into the subsurface have shown increasing
success, including the ability to geophysically detect and delineate
enhanced and natural biodegradation and remediation activities. The
substitution of biofuels, such as ethanol, for fossil fuels is becoming
pers...
Subsurface geophysical characterization efforts at a US Army legacy munitions waste site were negatively impacted by dynamic cold regions surface processes including increased snow depth, surface soil erosion and deposition, and seasonal water levels. One concern identified in the characterization efforts showed the time-domain (TD) electromagnetic...
Discrete deep targets are a significant challenge for most surface-based geophysical techniques, even when considering high property contrasts. Generally, surface-based geophysical methods lose lateral and vertical resolution with depth as a result of poor measurement geometry and increased signal attenuation. The poor measurement geometry can be o...
We present the results of a lab-scaled feasibility study to assess the performance of electrical resistivity tomography for detection, characterization, and monitoring of fuel grade ethanol releases to the subsurface. Further, we attempt to determine the concentration distribution of the ethanol from the electrical resistivity tomography data using...
Direct contact, frequency-dependent, electrical relaxation effects in soils are well documented in both conductivity and dielectric permittivity-dominated frequency regimes. These relaxation signatures result from charge displacement in physical processes at varying scales ranging from conductivity-dominated ionic transport at soil–grain pore-fluid...
Freeze-thaw cycling of frozen soils is known to be the cause of various engineering failures of infrastructure in cold regions. Researchers found that electrical resistivity methods outperform traditional ground surveying methods in frozen soils for their greater convenience and cost-effectiveness. However, detailed investigation into the relations...
Engineers need to know soil strength to support infrastructure and determine if it will persist or fail, relying on site investigations to characterize soil properties. A database of geophysical and geotechnical values for specific soil types would aid researchers and engineers in characterizing site soils from ground response information and provi...
Engineers need to know the strength of soil to support current and future infrastructure, e.g., roads and buildings, to determine if the infrastructure will persist or fail. Geophysical tests offer a nondestructive standoff method that can be used to characterize and monitor soil properties. To begin this process a database of geophysical and geote...
Interest in the use of carbonate precipitation for the purposes of soil stabilization, carbon capture, and environmental remediation has created a need for geophysical techniques capable of characterizing the three-dimensional extent of precipitation in the subsurface. The use of Spectral Induced Polarization (SIP), a geophysical technique sensitiv...
The engineering behavior of frozen soils is critical to the serviceability of civil infrastructure in cold regions. Among various geophysical techniques, electrical resistivity imaging is a promising technique that is cost effective and provides spatially continuous subsurface information. In this study, under freeze–thaw conditions, we carry out l...
The energy balance of permafrost depends on omnidirectional thermodynamic and hydrologic gradients. Frequently, studies focus on top-down permafrost thaw in the form of maximum seasonal surficial thaw depth, i.e. active layer thickness—which is used to approximate permafrost vulnerability. However, bottom-up warming has the potential to degrade per...
Standoff electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensing techniques offer efficient, in-situ characterization of the electrical properties of soils. Galvanic, or direct, electrical measurements of soils offer the ability to further correlate relaxation responses with soil physical properties through pedophysical modeling. Our efforts seek to leverage the b...
Standoff electromagnetic induction (EMI) measurements of complex conductivity and complex permittivity for engineering soil properties have the potential to revolutionize the way the US Army handles route planning and infrastructure assessment. An unmanned aerial system (UAS) based EM platform for soil interrogation would have wide reaching impact...
An evaluation of five petrophysical models for hydraulic permeability prediction was completed for a site-specific set of alluvial sediments. The models considered were the Kozeny-Carmen (1927-1937), Bo¨rner (1996), Revil-Cathles (1999), and two Revil-Florsch (2010) models. The river deposited sediments represent a relatively narrow grain-size dist...
16 Standoff electromagnetic induction (EMI) measurements of complex conductivity and complex 17 permittivity for engineering soil properties have the potential to revolutionize the way the US Army 18 handles route planning and infrastructure assessment. An unmanned aerial system (UAS) based EM 19 platform for soil interrogation would have wide reac...
Standoff electromagnetic induction investigation methods offer the opportunity to remotely and expeditiously interrogate near surface soils for a variety of applications. With many EMI platforms turning to unmanned aerial vehicles for data acquisition, the opportunity to expand standard investigation parameters beyond electrical conductivity alone,...
The ability to effectively detect and map subsurface voids is critical to the mitigation of failing civil infrastructure in regions prone to subsurface dissolution and erosion, including karstic terrain. Geophysical technologies, such as ground-penetrating radar, offer the ability to remotely characterize these potential hazards. When implemented i...
10 An evaluation of five petrophysical models for hydraulic permeability predication was completed 11 for a site-specific set of alluvial sediments. The models considered were the Kozeny-Carmen (1927-12 1937), Börner (1996), Revil-Cathles (1999), and two Revil-Florsch (2010) models. The river deposited 13 sediments represent a relatively narrow gra...
Permafrost thaw affects hydrobiogeochemical cycles and geomorphological evolution in arctic ecosystems. Within the active layer, soil moisture largely controls surface/subsurface energy exchange as the remarkable latent heat of water dampens energy flows into and out of permafrost. Non-invasive geophysical measurement techniques, such as ground pen...
Among many notable effects of a warming climate is the immediate and dramatic impact of sea ice reduction which necessarily alters ranging extents of arctic land animals. Predatory animals are thus forced to explore new areas in search of food, presenting a new risk to human life and health. In recent years, polar bears were found wandering into ar...
Foreword to this Special Issue on Climate Change and the Critical Zone Geophysics
Welcome to this special issue on the use of geophysics in climate change and critical zone (CZ) research. The importance of these research areas cannot be overstated, and yet when we were selecting contributions for this special issue, we wrestled with the fundamenta...
In this study, we carry out lab-scale 1D electrical resistivity measurements of frost-susceptible clayey sands, focusing on several major influencing factors including initial water content, soil density, temperature, and freezing/thawing conditions. Soil columns are configured following a four-pole type Wenner electrode array and placed in an envi...
Everchanging arctic climate conditions continue to negatively impact the habitat of the polar bear. The changes cause them to search for food outside of their traditional hunting grounds and potentially encounter humans in locations where interactions weren’t previously documented. One such occurrence in 2018 found a female polar bear at Summit Sci...
The in-situ physical properties of soils are the basis of modeling, inspection, and design for many different fields with applications including agriculture, civil infrastructure, environmental investigations, engineering design, and military based forward mobility. Yet obtaining accurate in-situ physical properties through direct contact field mea...
Moisture content in the critical zone provides information important in a variety of subsurface investigations and modeling efforts including those in civil, geotechnical, agriculture, environmental, and defense research areas. In an effort to improve moisture content mapping techniques we acquired multiple geophysical profiles using geoelectric, s...
The engineering behavior of frozen soils is critical to the serviceability of civil infrastructure in cold regions. Among various geophysical techniques, electrical resistivity imaging is a promising technique that is cost effective and provides continuous subsurface information. In this study, under freeze-thaw conditions, we carry out lab-scale 1...
For nearly forty years, the use of electromagnetic induction (EMI) techniques for soil investigations has been well established in the geophysical community. Invariably the operating frequencies of non-invasively sensing commercial field systems reside well within the quasi-magneto-static regime, usually in the one to tens of kilohertz frequency ra...
Submitted to GEOPHYSICS: Special Issue on Shallow Void, Tunnel, and Other Anomaly Detection
ABSTRACT: Discrete deep targets are a significant challenge for most surface-based geophysical techniques, even when considering high property contrasts. Generally, surface based geophysical methods lose lateral and vertical resolution with depth as a resul...
Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) systems using fiber optic (FO) cables are becoming commonplace in many perimeter security applications. They have the advantage of cost-effectively covering large geographic expanses without temporal or spatial gaps. Recent technology advances in commercial DAS systems have significantly improved system sensitivit...
Everchanging arctic climate conditions continue to negatively impact the habitat of the polar bear. The changes cause them to search for food outside of their traditional hunting grounds and potentially encounter humans in locations where interactions weren’t previously documented. One such occurrence in 2018 found a female polar bear at Summit Sci...
Recent habitat loss for polar bears has caused them to shift their hunting grounds, and as a result, there are more human-polar bear interactions2. For the National Science Foundation’s “Summit Station” in Greenland, a team at CRREL has begun to develop a detection system for polar bears to mitigate human and polar bear encounters. The system makes...
The use of carbonate precipitation as a means of in-situ soil stabilization, or for the purposes of carbon capture, has led to interest in the development of methods for remote monitoring of carbonate mineral formation. Spectral Induced Polarization (SIP) is a geophysical technique (akin to Impedance Spectroscopy) which measures the frequency depen...
Effective and efficient mapping of permafrost subsurface composition at scales relevant to the design and maintenance of horizontal and vertical infrastructure has been a long-standing challenge. Of utmost utility would be the development of standoff measurement techniques that could discern at the meter to submeter spatial scale and up to 10 m int...
High-frequency electromagnetic induction (HFEMI) extends the established EMI frequency range above 100 kHz to perhaps 20 MHz. In this higher frequency range, less-conductive targets display heretofore unseen responses in their inphase and quadrature components. Improvised explosive device constituent parts, such as carbon rods, small pressure plate...
The U.S. Army ERDC provided support to the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center under the FY17 Do3F congressional add for Unmanned Air-craft Systems Sensor Integration. A UAS-based EMI platform for expe-dited runway remediation of UXO is under development. Additional funding through the USACE under PE 62784/T53, Innovative Construc-tion Materials f...
The US military requires stand-off near surface detection methods that can be remotely deployed and provide critical subsurface information for civil and operational maneuvers. Specifically, information regarding the presence and orientation of unexploded ordinance (UXO) and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), as well as soil information is sought...
Standoff electromagnetic (EM) measurements of complex conductivity for engineering soil properties has the potential to revolutionize the way the US Army handles route planning and infrastructure assessment. An unmanned aerial system (UAS) based EM platform for soil interrogation will have wide reaching impact from civil infrastructure inspection t...
Earthen dam failures of high hazard dams are expected to cause downstream human life loss and economic and environment loss. Of the three most prevalent failure modes for earthen dams, seepage (or piping) failures account for approximately 40 percent. All earthen dams seep and it is not uncommon to observe some seepage on the downstream toe, but th...
The US military is in need of stand-off near surface soil characterization methods that can be remotely deployed and provide critical soil information for operational maneuvers. Specifically, information regarding the dielectric constant, soil strength and moisture content of soils is sought. Remote geophysical interrogation of the subsurface provi...
Recent investigations at a US Army legacy munitions waste site identified potential problems in the acquisition and evaluation of time-domain electromagnetic induction surveying for munitions remediation confirmation in cold regions. As part of remediation efforts, geophysical studies were conducted to characterize the extent of buried metal debris...
Detection of buried munitions and metallic debris are common problems at historic firing ranges and war time sites throughout the world. The currently accepted approaches for munitions detection most commonly involve the use of time-domain electromagnetic induction surveying. Existing standards for this type of investigation dictate survey design p...
Detection of buried unexploded ordinance and improvised explosive devices is a problem that continues to challenge the US military. Detection of tunnels, or the infrastructure in tunnels has also been a persistent and perplexing problem. While commercial off the shelf electromagnetic induction systems, generally operating below 100 kHz, have helped...
The Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), Alaska Projects
Office was contracted to conduct an initial geophysical investigation at four sites in and
near the community of Northway, Alaska. The objective of these surveys was to
determine if buried metal debris was present and to determine if future investigations at
these sites w...
A US Army legacy munitions waste site was identified adjacent to a river near a small arms range in Alaska. As part of remediation efforts, geophysical studies were conducted to characterize the extent of buried metal debris at the site. Time-domain electromagnetic surveys were completed over the site to meet the regulatory guidance for site cleanu...
Within the firing fan on the Fort Wainwright (FWA) Small Arms Complex a former open
burn/open detonation (OB/OD) site was discovered in 2013 and identified as the Open Burn/Open Detonation River Site (OB/OD River Site). The site is located near Fort Wainwright (FWA) Operable Unit 5 (OU5) on the northern bank of the Tanana River and comprises an are...
This paper describes a comprehensive modeling approach for infrasonic (sub-audible acoustic) signals, which starts with an accurate representation of the source spectrum and directivity, propagates the signals through the environment, and senses and processes the signals at the receiver. The calculations are implemented within EASEE (Environmental...
Operations associated with nuclear weapons development resulted in subsurface heavy metal and radionuclide contamination at many sites within the former US nuclear weapons development complex. Of these, the Hanford Site, which housed research and plutonium production facilities, faces some of the most complex and challenging subsurface remediation...
We present an array evaluation of standard and non-standard arrays over a hydrogeological
target. We develop the arrays by linearly combining data from the pole-pole (or
2-pole) array. The first test shows that reconstructed resistances for the standard Schlumberger
and dipole-dipole arrays are equivalent or superior to the measured arrays in terms...
A surface geophysical exploration (SGE) survey using direct current electrical resistivity was conducted within the C Tank Farm in the vicinity of the 200-Series tanks at the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. This survey was the second successful SGE survey to utilize the Geotection™-180 Resistivity Monitoring System which facilitated a much...
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection has constructed interim surface barriers (ISBs) over portions of the 241-T and 241-TY Tank Farms. The ISBs are designed to divert meteoric water and surface water away from contaminated vadose zone soils within the tank farms. Infiltration of water into subsurface soils with pre-existing co...
For regulatory purposes, the Hanford Site single-shell tank (SST) farms have been grouped into seven waste management areas (A-AX, B-BX-BY, C, S-SX, T, TX-TY, and U) which are subject to the requirements of the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (HFFACO) as past-practice units. Closure ofthe Hanford Site SSTs isrequired under HFFA...
ABSTRACTA validation experiment, carried out in a scaled field setting, was attempted for the long electrode electrical resistivity tomography method in order to demonstrate the performance of the technique in imaging a simple buried target. The experiment was an approximately 1/17 scale mock‐up of a region encompassing a buried nuclear waste tank...
Nanoparticles have grown in importance over the last decade with
significant consumer and industrial applications. Yet, the behavior
(fate and transport) of nanoparticles in the environment is virtually
unknown. Research is needed to identify, characterize, and monitor
nanomaterials in the subsurface. Here, we investigate the spectral
induced polar...
The interim surface barrier program at the Hanford site was initiated to reduce subsurface moisture content, and subsequently the migration risk of known vadose zone contaminants associated with cold-war era low level radioactive wastes and volatile organic compounds. The arid climate of southeastern Washington contributes to relatively low backgro...
The objective of the following feasibility study is to determine if geophysical
imaging methods could be used for the detection and monitoring of ethanol fuel spills. Two
geophysical methods were selected based on their ability to detect contrasts in subsurface
electrical properties: electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) and ground penetrating radar...
During fiscal year 2007, two-dimensional resistivity surveys were conducted within the Central
Plateau along a total of 54 geophysical profiles in both the 200 East and 200 West areas. Of
these, four profiles were collected in the vicinity of 216-C-1, nine profiles acquired near waste
sites 216-A-7, 216-A-8 and 216-A-19, ten profiles conducted for...
Ethanol is now widely used in petrochemical-based fuels as a fuel oxygenate, or as the primary ingredient in E85 gasoline. Increased production and use of ethanol resulted from environmental concerns over methyl-tertiary-butyl-ether (MTBE), a toxic water-soluble gasoline additive, and the need for renewable sources of non-petrochemical equivalents....
The research presented herein aims to determine if a spectral induced polarization (SIP) response exists due to nanoparticles in a saturated sand matrix. If a SIP response is realized in such an experimental setting, then it is feasible that SIP may be capable of delineating nanoparticles in the subsurface. The following five nanoparticles were stu...
The increased use of biofuels (e.g. ethanol) as an alternative to, and additive in, petroleum-based fuels likely will result in the same types of accidental releases and exposure currently associated with the transport and storage of petroleum products. Within the last decade a large number of studies have focused on the geophysical detection and m...
A case study is presented for an electrical resistivity geophysical survey, conducted on a gold leach pad of low-grade ore. The electrical resistivity method maps the spatial distribution of electrical resistivity, which is an intrinsic property of material that measures the resistance of electrical current flow through a medium. The property is in...
An electrical resistivity survey was completed at the Landusky mine. The survey consisted of 15 lines on the surface of the reclaimed Suprise pit, Queen Rose pit, and the region immediately south of Swift Gulch. Additionally, wells and seeps were used by energizing electrodes in direct contact with ground water to increase the sensitivity of the re...
Two dimensional and quasi-three dimensional high resolution resistivity (HRR) imaging of a refractory ore stockpile area at an active mine identified several distinct electrically conductive features. A residual potential mapping (RPM) survey delineated the possible flow pathway between two known acid rock drainage (ARD) seeps. Subsequent drilling...
Spectral electrical measurements were completed over a range of 0.1 to 1,000 Hz for soils obtained from the Kansas River alluvium near Desoto, Kansas. Physical and electrical properties were measured in the laboratory and compiled. The complex surface conductivity of these sediments is a function of surface area and grain diameter. The relationship...
An electrical geophysical survey, utilizing residual potential mapping (RPM) and high resolution resistivity (HRR), was completed at a TCE contaminated site near San Antonio, TX. RPM is a method based on the "mise-a-la-masse" technique, where the subsurface target is imaged using a direct-current transmission source placed at depth, and receivers p...
As part of a site investigation, sponsored by the United States Department of Energy, at the Hanford superfund site in southeastern Washington, a magnetics, electromagnetics (EM), and resistivity survey was completed. A dense coverage of geo‐referenced EM and magnetics data was simultaneously obtained over the 50‐acre site to delineate the location...
The effects of a single dipping layer on ray path inversion for zero-offset and fixed-offset crossborehole radar is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical investigation includes deriving the forward solution to the first arrival travel time profile as the borehole antennae are lowered across the dipping layer. The first arri...
Several geophysical methods were combined to characterize a technetium-99 (Tc-99) plume beneath a former radioactive waste site, including a magnetic gradiometry survey, a broadband multi-frequency electromagnetic survey and a high resolution resistivity (HRR) survey. The 50 acre site was previously used for the disposal of fission products formed...
Resistivity and induced polarization (IP) measurements (0.1–1000 Hz) were made on clay‐free unconsolidated sediments from a sandy, alluvial aquifer in the Kansas River floodplain. The sensitivity of imaginary conductivity σ″, a fundamental IP measurement, to lithological parameters, fluid conductivity, and degree of saturation was assessed. The pre...
The permeable reactive barrier (PRB) is a promising in-situ technology for treatment of hydrocarbon contaminated groundwater. A PRB is typically composed of granular iron, which degrades chlorinated organics into potentially nontoxic dehalogenated organic compounds and inorganic chloride. Geophysical methods may assist assessment of in-situ barrier...
Electrical measurements (0.1-1000 Hz) were made on clay-free unconsolidated sediments from a sandy, alluvial aquifer in the Kansas River floodplain. The sensitivity of induced polarization (IP) measurements to lithological parameters, fluid chemistry and degree of saturation was assessed. IP measurements exhibit power law dependence on surface area...
The relationship between complex conductivity measurements and hydraulic conductivity (K) of unconsolidated materials was investigated. The laboratory samples include natural sediments and artificial sand/clay mixtures. We test the Borner et al. (1996) model, based on a Kozeny-Carman equation, which incorporates electrical estimates of formation fa...