Campus Directory

Division Physical & Biological Sciences Division

Department/College/Unit Earth & Planetary Sciences Department

Title Research Geophysicist

Affiliation Staff

Staff Type Researcher

Web Site

Primary Office Location Earth & Marine Sciences
C328

Mail Stop Earth and Planetary Sciences

Biography, Education and Training

B.S., M.A., University of Science and Technology of China
Ph.D., Chinese Academy of Sciences

Summary of Expertise

Theoretical and Applied Seismology

Research Interests

Xiao-Bi Xie’s research covers both earthquake seismology and applied seismology, including theoretical work, numerical simulations and data analysis.

The study of seismic waves is a major tool in bringing us information about the Earth's interior, all the way from the near surface to the center of the Earth. This information is crucial in two aspects. In one respect, it provides us with the knowledge to understand the Earth's dynamic processes on all scales and advance the endless curiosity of human beings regarding the nature of our planet. In the other, more practical aspect, seismic methods are widely used in the engineering, mining, and oil and gas industries to find subsurface structures and explore oil and gas reserves.

Both of these applications are dependent on the development of seismic methods. We have to investigate how different structures and material properties affect the generation and propagation of seismic waves (the so called forward problem), and how to use observed seismic data to image the subsurface structure and retrieve the physical property of the Earth's material (the inverse problem).

Xiao-Bi Xie is working on developing numerical methods in seismic modeling and imaging. Currently, Dr. Xie and his colleagues focus their research on two directions: Investigating regional-wave excitation, energy partitioning and propagation using numerical modeling techniques; and developing one-way wave-equation based methods for fast seismic modeling, imaging and illumination analysis.