Get to know us

We reduce geological risk in infrastructure projects with our technology, by providing the missing link between complex geophysical and sparse geotechnical data.

About EMerald Geomodelling

EMerald Geomodelling AS is a tech company dedicated to revealing unknown ground conditions, helping large infrastructure projects to reduce the need for intrusive ground investigations.

With airborne geoscanning and machine learning, we provide the missing link between complex geophysical and sparse geotechnical data. We provide full 3D coverage with quantified precision.

EMerald Geomodelling AS is based on 10 years of Research, Development and Innovation at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI).

Team

Andreas A. Pfaffhuber

Andreas A. Pfaffhuber

(PhD), CEO
aap@emrld.no+47 414 93 753

Andi Pfaffhuber has extensive leadership experience in innovation, research, project management, business development and scientific consulting. Pfaffhuber is the visionary behind airborne geo-intelligence. He introduced airborne geophysics to NGI in 2007 initially for resource exploration and later for the unique application in geotechnical projects.

Pfaffhuber established the NGI Geosurveys section in 2012 based on a strategic research project. Geosurveys develops, adapts and implements geophysical, remote sensing and GIS methods in NGIs advanced geotechnical projects. For one year he contributed with Business Development to NGIs newly established daughter company in Perth, Australia.

Pfaffhuber holds a PhD in Applied Geophysics from Bremen University (2006) and an MSc in Applied Geoscience from Technical University Berlin (2001)

Helen Suurna-Garcia

Helen Suurna-Garcia

CFO
hsg@emrld.no+47 472 83 453

Helen Suurna-Garcia is a senior finance specialist with more than 15 years of experience in reporting, performance monitoring, budgeting, forecasting and consolidating in international corporations. A high-performing individual, a team player with a "can do" attitude, structured and service-minded. She is used to working with a wide range of ERP systems.

Before joining EMerald, Helen worked in the Dutch owned Centric Group being responsible for group reporting for the Nordic and daily financial administration of the Norwegian subsidiaries.

With a focus on user friendliness, structure and simplicity, Helen aims to make financial reporting and administration easy to follow and seamlessly support the daily operations.

Helen holds an MBA from BI Norwegian Business School and MSc in Economics from Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies.

Craig William Christensen

Craig William Christensen

(MSc), VP Technology
cch@emrld.no+47 967 57 872

Just like EMerald Geomodelling, Craig Christensen has a talent for bridging the gaps between seemingly disparate fields within applied geoscience.

In his MSc thesis, he combined geophysical measurements and geomorphological observations to analyse patterns in mountain groundwater distribution. Likewise, at both EMerald Geomodelling and NGI, he has led development of geostatistical algorithms that model bedrock topography using both geophysical data and borehole data.

Christensen started his career at NGI as a summer intern in 2013 and completed his MSc in Geology and Geophysics at the University of Calgary (2017). He also holds a BScE in Geological Engineering from Queen’s University (2014). His talents have been recognized by major academic awards from (among others) the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Queen’s University.

Guro Huun Skurdal

Guro Huun Skurdal

(MSc), VP Operations
ghs@emrld.no+47 976 60 192

Guro Skurdal has a solid background in geophysics and geotechnical field investigations, leading geotechnical ground investigation projects and processing of airborne geoscanning data. She was introduced to the world of airborne electromagnetics during the work of her MSc degree, a collaboration between the University of Oslo and NGI (2016). Improvement of the near-surface resolution of an airborne EM-system and comparing these data with geotechnical investigations was the core of her thesis.

With the combined experience from working with geophysical and geotechnical field investigation projects, Skurdal believes in the potential and advantages of implementing airborne geo-intelligence as a part of large infrastructure projects. Her understanding of the Norwegian geotechnical industry enables her to communicate with EMerald Geomodelling’s clients in the appropriate language.

Egil Möller

Egil Möller

Data Scientist
em@emrld.no+47 413 98 139

Egil Möller is a fully-fledged data scientist with extensive programming expertise. He is now determined to lift EMerald Geomodelling’s machine learning algorithms to new heights in terms of performance and applicability. Möller´s skills will improve our models to become even more reliable and include numerous additional types of information. This will give our clients faster results and better model quality.

Möller started programming at 14 and has continuously worked his way through many programming languages and abstraction levels, from assembly to C, LISP, JS and Python and from low level unix utilities to web development to data pipelines to machine learning. He has experience from Global Fishing Watch fishery management and IUU tracing environmental project, developing visualization for flaring from oil refineries, worked on Etherpad collaborative online text editor and wrote the first graphical boot screen for Linux.

Ed Harrison

Ed Harrison

(MSc) Director Development
eh@emrld.no+47 464 40 719 

Ed Harrison works as a combined developer and data analyst. He uses his experience on a wide variety of datasets to dig deeper in subsurface information – thus enhancing our deliverables.

A fascination for meteorology at a young age sparked his interest in the climate and geography. This led him to study a BSc in Marine Geography in Cardiff, Wales, before specializing in Physical Geography with an MSc in Geosciences at the University of Oslo. In his thesis, he analysed over 60 years of climate data for Svalbard to uncover new correlations in ice reduction and climatic changes.

Harrison's diverse background, extensive knowledge of GIS and a curious mind work to improve the automation of data wrangling for our AI systems, as well as the interpretation and delivery of data for our clients.

Andrè Araujo

Andrè Araujo

(MSc) Director Business Development
aas@emrld.no+47 940 16 645

Araujo is a highly curious and creative cross-functional manager with over 15 years of experience in the Brazilian infrastructure and transportation sectors. He has a strong background in project management, operations, and business development within asset-intensive organisations, and has occasionally served on their board of directors.

At EMerald Geomodelling, Araujo’s focus is to elevate our clients’ businesses by introducing EMerald’s technology. With his hands-on approach coupled with the mindset of having people at the heart of everything, he works closely with clients helping them to make their digital transformation using new, innovative geotechnology.

Araujo has a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from PUC  (Pontifical Catholic University), a Master of Science in infrastructure from the Aeronautical Technology Institute in Brazil, and an Executive MBA from Warwick Business School in the UK.

Benjamin R. Bloss

Benjamin R. Bloss

(MSc), EM Geophysicist
bb@emrld.no+1 720 951 1660

Ben is an electromagnetic geophysicist with over a decade of experience. Before EMerald, Ben worked at the US Geological Survey and holds a master’s degree from the Colorado School of Mines in Geophysics. Ben uses electromagnetic (EM) methods to help map physical property distributions from scales ranging from small, ground-based hydrogeologic projects to large, airborne-based regional mineral resource assessments.

Ben’s research experience includes using airborne EM data to help map distributions of mineralized zones within mining regions, helping refine the understanding of regional tectonic histories based on 3D geologic models built from AEM data, understanding the effects of cultural contamination in time-domain EM data, and developing novel CSEM methods to better understand the effects of carbon dioxide injections into geologic formations. When not getting his hands dirty with data collection and processing, Ben enjoys spending time in nature, both on foot and ski, with his friends and family.

Martine Haug Olsen

Martine Haug Olsen

UI/UX Developer
mho@emrld.no

Martine Haug Olsen is a skilled graphic designer and front-end developer with a passion for creating seamless and visually pleasing user experiences. She has a background in graphic design and front-end development, having studied at Noroff School of Technology and Media and achieving exceptional results.

Martine is dedicated to use her blend of design and technical skills to develop innovative digital experiences that make the journey between EMerald’s products and clients as intuitive and pleasant as possible. She has a keen attention to detail and a passion for creating aesthetically pleasing user interfaces. With her creativity and proactive approach she is pushing the products and face of EMerald forward.

Priscila Rodrigues

Priscila Rodrigues

(MSc) Country Manager Brazil
pr@emrld.no+55 11 976 906 313

Priscila acts as Project and Country Manager, overseeing turn-key projects in Brazil and the greater region. She collaborates closely with the Sales, Geology, and Geophysics teams at the company’s headquarters in Norway, ensuring seamless coordination and successful project execution. Her responsibilities encompass overseeing various project components and ensuring timely delivery while upholding high levels of customer satisfaction.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from UFRR and a master’s degree in Transportation Engineering from Beijing Jiaotong University. With her expertise in civil engineering and strong project management skills, Priscila brings a comprehensive understanding of engineering practices and a proven track record of successfully completing projects. Having lived in China for nearly 7 years, Priscila has gained invaluable international exposure and her multicultural perspective enables her to navigate diverse environments and contribute effectively to global engineering projects.

Zahidur Rahman Arnob

Zahidur Rahman Arnob

(MSc & MBA), Business Developer
zra@emrld.no+47 939 74 348

Customer is the heart of any business & Zahidur’s core competency is Business Development in the Tech & SaaS industry. He has 4+ years of working experience in the B2B Tech Industry where he excels in analyzing data to drive strategic business decisions and maintains key account management.
Business Development & Customer Management are the focus point of Zahidur’s at Emerald Geomodelling. Using the combined skill of IT & Marketing, he helps clients to transform their business digitally by keeping smooth customer relations towards achieving organizational goals.
Currently pursuing a Master's thesis in Informatics at The University of Oslo, Zahidur holds an MBA in Marketing from Jahangirnagar University, a BSc in Computer Science &Engineering from Ahsnaullah University of Science and Technology, and a Post Graduation Diploma in Logistics & Supply Chain Management from Edupro, UK.

Fernando Pacheco

Fernando Pacheco

(PhD) Engineering Geologist
fp@emrld.no+55 31 994 767 518

Fernando joins EMerald Geomodelling as an Engineering Geologist, working in Geology and Geophysics teams. His aim is to run and develop interpretations on Brazilian projects and provide tech support. Fernando also collaborates with the Sales department to assure a comprehensive understanding of the local geology. With his research background and geological expertise, he can better understand and address local issues of EMerald´s clients in Brazil.

Fernando has a bachelor’s degree in Geology from Universidade Federal de Minas Greais (UFMG) and MSc and PhD in Regional Geology from the same institution, studying different areas from his country. Currently, Fernando is doing his post-graduation in Geotechnical Engineering from PUC-MG. With 3 years of experience working with geotechnical engineering of data, sterile pile and slope stability projects, Fernando also contributes to the team with a deeper understanding of the geology of Brazil.

Caio Cesar Teixeira Barbosa

Caio Cesar Teixeira Barbosa

Business Development Brazil
cctb@emrld.no+55 38 991 140 314

Energy, motivation, and performance constitute the three pillars that underpin Caio's journey. With 14 years of experience in various mining companies in Brazil, he has faced challenges in iron ore mines (in 9 different locations), nickel, gemstones, construction sand, among others. In addition to his corporate roles, Caio has shared his knowledge as a professor at the State University of Minas Gerais, teaching fundamental subjects such as mineral research and mine planning, and mentoring over 20 students.

Caio now faces the challenge of introducing EMerald's innovative technology to the Brazilian mining industry. His mission is to empower clients to reduce costs, optimize time, and minimize geological risks in prospecting, mineral exploration, and geotechnical analyses. In this context, the crucial challenge is to highlight the extraordinary potential that our tool offers to the mining industry.

A graduate in Mining Engineering from the School of Mines of Ouro Preto, Barbosa is currently pursuing a master's degree at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, focusing on the area of mineral resources and reserves.

Ali Humayun

Ali Humayun

System Administrator and Developer
ah@emrld.no+47 939 66 619

Ali is an enthusiastic system administrator with Cybersecurity as his specialization. An all-round technically adept person, he contributes to the EMerald IT branch in a variety of ways including development, deployment, and cybersecurity. He believes in the DevOps methodology and brings automation and agility to the company's software development lifecycle. At the same time and in the face of ever-increasing tools available, he believes that a good old shell script is still the most valuable tool in a system admin's arsenal. Ali has a special interest in Operating systems an attributes his love of Linux to be the factor for switching to IT from engineering. With low-level programming as his main coding interest, he can work with many programming languages including assembly, C, C++, Rust, and Python. He also manages and maintains EMerald's cloud based resources and geotechnical databases.
Ali holds a Bachelors degree in Cybersecurity and uses his skills to maintain a secure public access to EMerald's digital resources.

Board

Kristoffer Skjolden Skau

Kristoffer Skjolden Skau

Chairman of the Board

Director GeoData and Technology

NGI - Norwegian Geotechnical Institute

PhD Geotechnical engineering, Offshore foundation

Norges tekniske-naturvitenskapelige universitet (NTNU)

Per Einar Dybvik

Per Einar Dybvik

Board Member

CEO

StartupLab

The University of Manchester

Lars Gogstad

Lars Gogstad

Board Member

Master of Management; Innovasjon og Entreprenørskap

Norwegian School of Management

 

Dominik Lang

Dominik Lang

Board Member

Director Natural Hazards

NGI - Norwegian Geotechnical Institute

PhD Earthquake engineering, engineering seismology

Bauhaus-University Weimar, Germany

Dr.philos. Earthquake risk assessment

University of Bergen (UiB)

Andi A. Pfaffhuber

Andi A. Pfaffhuber

Board Member

CEO & Founder

EMerald Geomodelling

PhD Geophysics

Universität Bremen

Ronny Liverød

Ronny Liverød

Board Member / Co-Founder

Head of Construction

StartupLab

BSc in Economics and Administration

BI Norwegian Business School

Executive Program at Singularity University in Silicon Valley.  

Our history

EMerald Geomodelling AS was founded in 2019 and is based on over 10 years of experience and research in the fields of innovative airborne geophysics for geotechnical use by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI). Here are some of the major milestones that led to our success:

2022 Establishment of EMerald Geomodelling Brazil

Motivated by the great appreciation of our value proposition in the Brazilian Railway industry, we established a fully owned business unit in Brazil to work closer with asset owners like Rumo Logistics and Vale Rails.

2017 International project during construction phase:

Prior international surveys for tunnel projects in Zambia and Bhutan provided the basis for an exceptional assignment in South America. We carried out a survey in the high Andes to support a hydropower project during the tunnel construction phase. In this unique setting, the project owner utilized the provided models to reduce the geological risk during construction contract re-negotiations.

2015 Regional railway planning survey:

Inspired by the successes for road planning projects, the Norwegian national rail administration commissioned a regional airborne survey. These surveys were to support the nation’s largest railway development project — the InterCity project— in which 270 km of new double-track, high-speed railways were developed to connect the nation’s capital (Oslo) with surrounding areas.

The geotechnical engineer responsible for the project at the time, Anne-Lise Berggren, took the leap to invest, helping to reduce geological uncertainty early in theproject. In just 6 weeks, we covered 650 km2 and provided bedrock models that were used in further planning work.

2013 Road planning survey:

To increase the efficiency of soil investigations for the planning of 32 km new highway in SE Norway, we conducted the first airborne geotechnical geoscanning survey in Norway. Our aims were to map bedrock topography and reveal soil properties related to quick clay occurrence.

We conducted this pilot project within ongoing design works involving consultants from NGI and Cowi in a contract owned by the Norwegian public road administration (SVV). Arvid Sagbakken (SVV), Frode G Bjørvik (Cowi) and Steinar Herman (NGI) were the responsible geotechnical engineers that took the risk of trying an untested method in an ongoing project. The risk proved worthwhile as the survey results lead to a reduction in overall soil investigation costs.

2009 First survey in Norway:

We conducted our first Norwegian airborne geoscanning survey within a larger rock slide hazard research project. In Western Norway, one million cubic meters of rock are gradually moving towards Aurlandsfjord, posing a large hazard to residents and tourists. We tested whether this technology could identify sliding planes and thereby reveal mechanisms behind this movement of rock. Indeed, the survey successfully mapped sliding planes and major weakness zones along a planned drainage tunnel alignment.

Aurlandmunicipality, E-CO Energi and the Norwegian research council funded this study. Bjørn Sture Rosenvold (Aurland Municipality), Ola Gunleiksrud (E-CO), Ulrik Domaas (NGI), and Eystein Grimstad (NGI) were the open-minded stakeholders that supported this innovative approach with success.

Career

We are seeking new talent to join our small, agile and young start-up. We may be small, but we have worked with major asset owners like BaneNor and Nye Veier in Norway, not to mention we our international work in India and Brazil. Here, you will be joining a vibrant and dynamic work environment where you will help us bring infrastructure development into the 21st century and where you will have some freedom to form your own role as we grow.

Working at EMerald Geomodelling

Beyond a fair salary and insurance package, we offer our successful candidates an attractive workplace and working conditions. This includes:

  • A role where your voice will be heard and where you will gain a sense of ownership for what you create
  • More freedom than typical large corporation
  • A potential equity stake in a company on the verge of growth
The EMerald Geomodelling team

At EMerald Geomodelling, we’ve summarized our core virtues trust, honesty & support, Innovation and curiosity, and high ethical standards to three statements:

Helping a colleague succeed is as important as the joy of personal success
The geotechnical industry is ripe for disruption
Do good things and good things will happen to you

1

Talk to us about your project

All we need to know is where your project is located, its size and particular geological unknowns. Based on that we can assess technological feasibility and economic benefit.

2

We scan the project area

Once we thoroughly assessed the added value of our method for your goals and received an order, you lean back and we care for data acquisitions, harvesting, integration and machine-learning based model building.

3

Work with an easy to understand 3D model

Working with EMerald you won’t need domain specialists to make sense of the sensed. We deliver and give easy access to integrated 3D models that provide the insights your project needs.

Let's talk about your project

Our team will get in touch with you shortly.

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