The NORSAR Software Suite 2026 release introduces important new capabilities across NORSAR-3D, MDesign, and general functionality, with a particular focus on improved modelling flexibility, enhanced survey support, and more robust workflows.

MDesign

The main updates in MDesign include:

• Improved geophone directivity handling
  Detectability and location uncertainty workflows now account for the directivity of single-component geophones, enabling more realistic and reliable analysis.
• DAS support in detectability workflows
  Distributed Acoustic Sensing, DAS, is now supported in the detectability workflow, extending the range of acquisition technologies that can be evaluated.

NORSAR-3D

The major update in NORSAR-3D is an extended General Model Builder, now available in two versions:

• Basic version
  This corresponds to the General Model Builder available in previous releases and provides the familiar workflow for standard model construction.
• Advanced version
  The new Advanced version organizes Interface, Horizon, and Block relationships in a hierarchical structure. This enables more flexible model building, better storage and management of model elements, and supports the construction of more complex models than can be handled in the Basic version.

This release also includes a wide range of improvements and bug fixes in NORSAR Software Suite, including:

• Improved handling of surveys created from SPS files in the interactive wavefront tracer.
• Fixed conversion from 2D to 2.5D models when using non-constant material properties.
• The Smooth and Resample function in the General Model Builder now works for single interfaces, in addition to merged interfaces.
• The survey-dependent illumination ray workflow now supports topographic surfaces.
• The CMP bin size tool has been fixed for topographic surfaces.
• Bugs related to coordinate transformation and unit conversion have been resolved.
• Several color map issues have been fixed.

NORSAR introduces PasMon, a new cutting edge software solution for advanced real-time passive seismic monitoring.

PasMon represents a significant step forward, harnessing NORSAR’s deep expertise in seismology and integrating advanced modern analysis methods. 

PasMon provides critical insight into subsurface dynamics and supports informed decision-making in demanding operational environments.

And in addition, several stability fixes and improvements.

NORSAR Software Suite 2025.1 is a maintenance and bugfix release 

Major changes

• MDesign Detectability and Location uncertainty: Amplitude computations improved to support complex models 

The following issues have been fixed in this release

• Added help for the Units tab when creating a project. 
• Point based survey domain illumination maps were not plotted 
• Imported microseismic data points with the noise floor specified were not plotted. 
• Detectability workflow failed for sensor sets with non-unique names. 
• Added help to SeisRoX PSF workflow. 
• Crash in SEG-Y export of SeisRoX results 
• Floating point inaccuracy for z-axis in SEGY output 
• Unit errors in GUI components: 
  • Colour legend for property cubes and NORSAR-3D models 
  • Single block and single reflector model builders 
  • Survey generator 
  • Flower plot workflow setup 
  • N2D survey definition 
  • NIP survey area widget 
• Default spacing for NIP surveys too small causing resource problems 
• Time to depth mapping error if time grid is outside of the cube 
• Deadlock in General Model Builder surface plotting 
• Warn if too many PSFs are stored in MDesign Focusing workflows 
• Scaling of anisotropy parameters was incorrect when exported as SEGY. 
• Missing “night” GUI style 

NORSAR Software Suite (NSS) 2025 is a bugfix and system upgrade release, focused on bringing the platform up to date with modern software libraries and improving overall stability and performance. While not a feature-heavy release, several important improvements and fixes have been made across key workflows and components.

Please note: This is the last version supporting RHEL 7/CentOS 7 which reached EOL June 30, 2024.

System and Library Upgrades 

A number of third-party libraries have been updated to their latest supported versions: 

• Qt upgraded from 5.14 to 6.8 
• Qwt upgraded from 6.2 to 6.3 
• VTK upgraded from 7.1.1 to 9.3 
• Python upgraded from 2.7 to 3.11 
• HDF5 upgraded from 1.8 to 1.14 
• Zlib upgraded from 1.3 to 1.3.1 
• Boost upgraded from 1.73 to 1.87 

Platform Changes
Windows: Development environment updated from Visual Studio 2017 to Visual Studio 2022

Linux: Primary platform is now Rocky Linux 9 (Support for CentOS 7 is maintained via a separate binary distribution until the next release.)
 

Major Functional Updates 

Seismogram Generator 

• DAS amplitudes are now correctly interpreted as strain amplitudes. 

SeisRoX Enhancements 

• Anisotropy is now supported. 
• Attenuation modeling fixed—previous versions applied excessive attenuation. 

Survey-Dependent Tools 

• IRAY and Flower Plot: Improved angle accuracy with new retracing logic; previously reflection angles were too coarsely sampled. 
   

Bug Fixes and Improvements 

Units Handling 

• Inconsistencies addressed; units now explicitly set in the Units tab in project definition. (Note: Some modules still use the km-system.) 

Visualization and UI

• Improvements in color map settings 
• Fixed color mapping range issues in DIP and DEPTH illumination maps 
• General stability improvements in model builders 
• Removed outdated and little-used functionality 

Illumination Workflows 

• Areal filter bugs fixed in both Illumination Map and Cube workflows 
• Optimizations in MDesign DAS Illumination workflow 

Toolkit and API 

• NORSAR Data Toolkit: 
  • Improved handling of illegal project names 
  • Fixed incorrect Y-axis in C# project grid area query 

SeisRoX Specific Fixes 

• Correct assignment of rest properties in model builder 
• Interactive illumination rays now work better with anisotropy 
• Kirchhoff workflow execution is now more stable 

Data Import and Interop 

• Fixed rotation bug when importing symmetry axis from SEGY files as azimuthal plane 

Miscellaneous 

• Workflow queue handling improved 
• Security updates 
• Fixed vertical well handling in VSP Survey Generator 
   

Summary

NORSAR Software Suite 2025 sets the stage for future feature development by delivering critical upgrades and stability improvements. We recommend all users upgrade to this version to benefit from enhanced performance, compatibility, and robustness.

This bugfix release resolves an issue where creating a new project would sometimes fail.

This is a bugfix and maintenance release which addresses the following issues:

• SeisRoX
  • Fixed crash in illumination function generation for the Full-field workflow, in cases where illumination vectors have maximum allowed incident angle
  • Fixes for Green’s function generation
  • Fixed invalid timers in local-target workflows
•  MDesign
  • Fixed unit error in location uncertainty workflow
  • When location error uncertainty cannot be determined, set value to undefined
  • Location uncertainty workflow speed optimizations
• 3D Viewer
  • Fixed interactive illumination rays in isotropic media, rays were plotted twice

In addition, minor fixes and improvements.

NORSAR Software Suite 2024 is a new release featuring new functionality, improvements and bug fixes.

General functions

• Colour scale:
  • Scientific colour scales are available in 3D viewer
• Welll log import:
  • Well path can be specified by inclination and azimuth down along the well
• Workflow queue manager:
  • More workflow types can be queued, including Kirchhoff modelling and migration workflows.
• Modelling project editor: 
  • Added a tab for setting preferred display unit for selected attributes 
• Seismogram generation:
  • Offset is now included in the SEG-Y file trace header. 

     

NORSAR-3D

• Make elements:
  • Property import as SEG-Y: Improved explanation of how to change number of traces, etc. 
• Build models: 
  • In Single reflector model builder, corrected wrong display when P/S-ratio was specified. 
  • In General model builder, corrected holes in properties made by interpolation between horizons. 
  • In General model builder, corrected the generation of properties by analytic functions when spatial units are not km.  
  • Fixed problem with a crash in general model builder on interface operations 
• Survey: 
  • New survey type: Orthogonal survey. 
• Kirchhoff migration workflow:  
  • Can now reuse the Greens’ function from the corresponding Kirchhoff modelling workflow.

• Illumination Rays (IRAY): 
  • The results can be limited by areal filters in the shot and receiver domains. 
  • Fixed bug that exclusion filters were ignored 
  • Fixed bug that Shot-receiver azimuth filters, incident reflection angle filters, and departing reflection angle filters were ignored 
  • The Help is improved. 
  • In anisotropic models, now rays for all incident angles are computed; used to be just a half-circle. 
  • Fix crash in survey generation for flower plot generation  
  • For survey dependent workflows, added warning about long compute time for large surveys 
• New Fast track utilities workflow:  
  • Workflow to estimate Minimum Bin Size / Maximum frequency to avoid aliasing. 

NORSAR-2D

• General ray code:  
  • More detailed explanation in the Help.

SeisRoX

• Full-field workflow: 
  • Fixed error in Greens Function Generation for SeisRoX Full-field workflows, causing illumination vectors to be wrong. This bug was introduced in version 2023.1 

MDesign

• Sensor file import 
  • Now also handles files with no noise floor information. 
• Detectability workflow: 
  • Corner frequency is no longer needed as input. 
  • Corrected algorithm for magnitude estimation. 
• Location uncertainty workflow: 
  • Corrected algorithm for magnitude estimation. 
• DAS Illumination workflow: 
  • From the input survey, only the receivers are used. 
  • Fixed error in backazimuth computations 
  • Amplitude statistics (min,max,average)  are provided. 
  • Added option to show the absolute number of receivers in addition to percentage of all receivers 

In addition, several stability fixes and improvements.

NORSAR Software Suite 2023.2 is a new release featuring new functionality, improvements and bug fixes.

NORSAR-3D 

• Make elements: 
  • Project a polyline onto a model horizon. 
• Build models: 
  • Single Block model builder: Use attenuation and anisotropy cubes. 
  • Single Reflector model builder: Use attenuation cubes. 
  • Grid Layer Cake model builder: Allow larger attenuation cubes. 
  • More robust construction of a 3D model from 2D lines. 
• Survey: 
  • Coil survey generator: Correct coil radius also when input unit is not km. 
• Kirchhoff migration workflow:  
  • Can now also use DAS data from Kirchhoff Modelling or Seismograms made from Wavefront modelling events. 
• Normal Incidence Point (Zero-offset) workflow:  
  • Improved GUI and Help for setting of shot/receiver depths. 

NORSAR-2D

• Make time domain model:  
  • Size definition correct also in projects where depth unit is not km. 

MDesign

• Selection of sensors: 
  • More flexible ways to enable and disable sensors. 
• Run workflows: 
  • Warning if the data set is large. 
• Help: 
  • More advice on computational performance versus number of sensors and target cube nodes. 
  • Improved explanation on how to plot the results from Location Uncertainty workflows. 

In addition, several stability fixes and improvements.

NORSAR Software Suite 2023.1 is a new release featuring new functionality, improvements and bug fixes.

Common functions 

• It is checked that a project is not made at or moved to top level (like C:/). 
• Hot cursor information is improved for 2D sections in 3D Viewer. 

NORSAR-3D 

• Import: 
  • Axis of symmetry import options include files with Dip and Azimuth of plane orthogonal to the axis of symmetry. 
  • Grid import preview: Improved default folder for input data. 
• Build models: 
  • 1D -> 3D Model conversion and Single reflector model builder: Amount of smoothing is now independent of unit settings. 
  • Single block model builder: Attenuation Qp can exceed 1000. 
  • Make plane grid: Improved default values. 
  • General Model Builder: Unintentional changes of model limits are prevented. 
  • General Model Builder: Improved user input field for Cross section plots. 
• The Time-Depth mapping function is correct also when it is made from a time domain velocity field. 
• Survey:  When editing a survey of Fixed type, the correct panels are shown. 
• Common shot Batch Wavefront ray-tracer workflow: 
  • Improved status info for surveys with many undefined shots. 
  • Improved message if try to re-trace a shot with no results. 
  • Shots are distributed more evenly among jobs. 
• Kirchhoff modelling and migration workflows: Default sampling parameters are improved. 
• Illumination cube workflow: Areal filters can be defined. 
• Improved unit handling in many functions. 

SeisRoX 

• In Eclipse Import, more parameters are checked to determine which cells are active. 
• CO2 in rocks when using the Span-Wagner option now also works on Linux. 

MDesign 

• Attenuation Qp is taken from the model, including that it may vary in the subsurface. 
• The function to save a point set as sensors is now robust, not causing software crash. 
• VSP surveys can be made also when only NSS MDesign is run. 
• Help updated with more details. 
• A new tutorial is available.

In addition, several stability fixes and improvements.

NORSAR Software Suite 2023 is a new major release featuring new functionalities, improvements, and bug fixes. Highlights of the release are a new 3D Point Spread Function workflow, MDesign export functions, a 2D lateral property gradients function and a new dark user interface style. See the list below for details.

Common functions 

• Reset of settings and selection of Preferences available from the Startup dialog.
• New style option under Preferences: Dark. 
• Improved user’s control of the 3D Viewers. 
• Extensive validation of user-defined input: Maximum name length and valid characters. 
• File import no longer requires a suffix, that is, a “.” in the filename. 
• With a single click, switch on/off many elements of common type in the 3D Viewer.  

NORSAR-2D

• Can make lateral property (Vp, Vs, density, etc.) gradients. 
• To make 2D model from 1D Model is improved and is more stable. 
• Improved coordinate info from the Hot Cursor.

NORSAR-3D 

• Supercritical reflections can be filtered or plotted with a separate color in the Interactive Illumination Rays plot and in the Shot-Direction Ray-Tracer. 
• Improved Max Diving Depth filter in the Illumination Cubes workflow. 
• Corrected the generation of Time-to-Depth mapping function from a time domain velocity cube. 
• Polyline import for data in US-feet. 
• Connection to Mesa 17.

SeisRoX 

• New workflow to compute Point Spread Functions (PSFs) only. 
• Improved progress report when workflows are running. 
• Improved SEG-Y export of results. 

MDesign 

• Extensive new export functions and formats. 

In addition, several stability fixes and improvements.

NORSAR Software Suite 2022.1 is a new release featuring new functionality, improvements and bug fixes.

NORSAR-2D 

• Disallow using illegal characters in 2D section names. 

NORSAR-3D 

• New Import functionalities: 
  • Import Tigress format property cubes. 
  • Import Esri shape format polygons as polylines. 
• Wells: New functionality to make a property cube from the velocity or density in a well. 
• 1D Model Editor: Fixed that Qp and Qs columns were sometimes not editable. 
• General 3D Model Builder:
  • New function “Fit property between horizon”. 
  • New function to merge property cubes.
  • Fixed that “Cut two interfaces against each other” could only be run once. 
  • Fixed that “Store property” on a new name corrupted the list of material properties. 
  • Improved user control of the function “Extrapolate/Interpolate in property”. 
  • Improved cross section plots of blocks.
• Kirchhoff Prestack Modelling Workflow:  
  • New functionality: Modelling of registration along a DAS cable. 
  • Fixed that workflows were not correctly copied. 
• General: Fixed crash when opening a project containing a corrupt NORSAR-3D model. 

SeisRoX 

• Eclipse Import: Fixed crash when trying to import a partial model. 
• Eclipse Import: Fixed user interface issues. 
• Local-target PSDM Workflow: Fixed potential crash when plotting PSF and/or filter and switching between cases. 
• Full-field PSDM Workflow: Fixed that PSF, filter and reflectivity were not stored. 

In addition, minor stability fixes and improvements.