These courses have all evolved from the 5th SEG/EAGE Distinguished Instructor Short Course, offered by Dr. Thomsen at 28 locations around the world in 2002. The material has been updated and parsed variously for differing client needs.

Six courses are described here, with a complete synopsis for each. All are supported by the book, Understanding Seismic Anisotropy in Exploration and Exploitation, by Leon Thomsen, published in 2002 by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, as the 2002 SEG/EAGE DISCourse, with a 2^nd Edition printed in 2014. They are not “methods courses”, but rather are “concept courses”, familiarizing the students with essential concepts, enabling them to ask the right questions in future conversations, rather than to operate particular software packages.

The six courses are:

• Anisotropy for Executives A one-hour seminar, designed to explain to technical managers what they need to know about seismic anisotropy, when their own technical experts are recommending acquisition, processing, imaging, or interpretation of data affected by anisotropy.
• Anisotropy for Interpreters A two-hour course, designed to explain to interpreters of seismic images what they need to know about seismic anisotropy, and how it can affect those images.
• Anisotropy 1 A one-day course, covering seismic P-wave anisotropy, updated from the 2002 SEG/EAGE DISCourse.
• Anisotropy 2 A two-day course, covering all areas of seismic anisotropy, updated from the 2002 SEG/EAGE DISCourse, with class exercises. If translation from English is advisable (for full benefit to participants), then 3 days should be allocated for this course.
• Anisotropy 3 A one-day course, covering vector-wave (shear and converted) anisotropy, with class exercises, and ample time for full discussion. Essential points of this course are that
• All of us need to understand vector waves, even though most of us work, today, mostly with P-waves.
• Anisotropy is essential to understanding vector waves, whereas isotropy forms an adequate basis for elementary understanding of P-waves.
• Anisotropy 4 A four-day course, covering all areas of seismic anisotropy, updated from the 2002 SEG/EAGE DISCourse, with class exercises, and ample time for full discussion. If translation from English is advisable (for full benefit to participants), then 5 days should be allocated for this course.