About the creator
Andy McDonald
I work across geoscience, software and machine learning, building practical tools for subsurface data, interpretation and decision making.
Background
I have nearly 20 years of experience working with subsurface data in the oil and gas industry, across technical, software and product-facing roles. My work has included building industry software modules, developing applied machine learning workflows for geoscience problems, and creating technical training material for geoscientists.
I have delivered conference workshops, written long-form technical articles and published open notebooks on Python and subsurface data analysis. I also write independently through Subsurface Syntax, on practical ways of working with geological data.
Why Probe Lab
Every log is a physical measurement: gamma rays counted, neutrons slowed, current sent into the rock, sound timed along the borehole wall. Probe Lab puts each tool in a cut-away borehole so you can watch that measurement happen, and see why clay, fluids, mud and the borehole itself change what the tool reads.
It is the third tool in the Labs series, after Pore Lab and Bore Lab.
Inspired by
The Labs series was inspired by Ryan Sael's The Plane of Focus, an interactive lens lab that explains camera focus by letting you turn the focus ring and watch the sharp plane move through a scene. It showed how much a well-lit, hands-on model can teach.
Find me
The rocks and readings in Probe Lab are generated from simplified teaching models, not vendor tool responses.