Method for placement of surface electrodes for electromagnetic telemetry

A method for communicating measurements from a sensor in a wellbore to Earth's surface, comprising:

• moving a wellbore instrument coupled to a drill string along an interior of a wellbore, the wellbore instrument including at least one sensor;
• generating an electromagnetic field in the wellbore instrument, the electromagnetic field comprising encoded measurements from the at least one sensor;
• measuring a signal corresponding to an amplitude and/or phase of the electromagnetic field, wherein the measuring the signal comprises measuring voltage induced across at least one pair of electrodes deployed proximate Earth's surface, the electrodes deployed at positions selected by determining spatial distribution of the electromagnetic field, measuring voltages induced by noise across at least one pair of spaced apart electrodes placed at a plurality of positions spaced apart from a surface location of the wellbore, estimating a spatial distribution of noise using the measured voltages and selecting positions for placement of the at least one pair of electrodes using the spatial distribution of the electromagnetic field and the spatial distribution of noise;
• and
• decoding the measurements from the measured signal.