Estimates of the hypocenter location errors of passive microseismic events located by using a 3‐C VSP downhole geophone array

Hypocenter location errors of passive microseismic events located by using a 3‐C VSP downhole geophone array are estimated through numerical experiments. In the case of employing the conventional hypocenter location algorithm, which combines backazimuth and P‐wave first arrival times of passive events, the hypocenter location error distribution depends on the location, accuracy of the measurement of backazimuth, and the picking error of P‐wave first arrival times. The depth range and the number of the geophones in an array can also influence the error distribution. In addition, we developed a more reliable error estimation algorithm than is generally used today.