Field manuals
What it actually takes on the ground
The simulators show you the physics. These pages cover the rest: what you carry, how long the setup takes, which hazards bite, and where a clean synthetic response stops resembling a real record.
CSEM
Controlled-Source Electromagnetics
Party chief, 2 EM engineers, navigator, vessel or heavy-vehicle crew
10-18 line-km of towed acquisition per 24 h
GPR
Ground Penetrating Radar
1-2 operators (single operator for cart surveys)
6-15 line-km with a cart; 1-3 km for dense 3D grids
AEM
Airborne Electromagnetics
Pilot, system operator, ground data QC geophysicist
200-400 line-km per flying day
MT/AMT
Magnetotellurics / Audio-Magnetotellurics
2 geophysicists per 2-4 station rotation, plus a remote-reference watch
2-4 stations per crew per day (long-period sites take 1-3 days each)
GsAMT
Grounded-Source Audio-Magnetotellurics
Transmitter operator plus 2 roving receiver pairs
4-8 stations per receiver crew per day
TEM/TDEM
Transient / Time-Domain Electromagnetics
3-4 crew for loop layout plus 1 operator
3-8 soundings per day depending on loop size
RIM/BHR
Radio Imaging / Borehole Radar
2 borehole operators plus a driller or hoist crew on standby
1-2 hole pairs per day (roughly 0.4-0.8 km of tomographic coverage)
IP/ERT
Induced Polarisation / Electrical Resistivity Tomography
1 operator plus 2-3 crew planting and moving electrodes
0.8-1.5 line-km of 2D roll-along per day