Estimating and correcting the amplitude radiation pattern of a virtual source

In the virtual source (VS) method we crosscorrelate seismic recordings at two receivers to create a new data set as if one of these receivers were a virtual source and the other a receiver. We focus on the amplitudes and kinematics of VS data, generated by an array of active sources at the surface and recorded by an array of receivers in a...

Passive seismic interferometry by multidimensional deconvolution

We introduce seismic interferometry of passive data by multidimensional deconvolution (MDD) as an alternative to the crosscorrelation method. Interferometry by MDD has the potential to correct for the effects of source irregularity, assuming the first arrival can be separated from the full response. MDD applications can range from reservoir...

Assessing estimated velocity-depth models: Finding error bars in tomographic inversion

In conventional migration velocity analysis methods, a velocity model is estimated that results in flattened events in common-image gathers. However, after this process, no information is available on the accuracy of this velocity model. A statistical analysis of velocity-model parameters is very difficult because of the integrated nature of the...

Adaptive curvelet-domain primary-multiple separation

In many exploration areas, successful separation of primaries and multiples greatly determines the quality of seismic imaging. Despite major advances made by surface-related multiple elimination (SRME), amplitude errors in the predicted multiples remain a problem. When these errors vary for each type of multiple in different ways (as a function...

On the relation between seismic interferometry and the migration resolution function

Seismic interferometry refers to the process of retrieving new seismic responses by crosscorrelating seismic observations at different receiver locations. Seismic migration is the process of forming an image of the subsurface by wavefield extrapolation. Comparing the expressions for backward propagation known from migration literature with the...

Application of a linear finite-frequency theory to time-lapse crosswell tomography in ultrasonic and numerical experiments

Time-lapse seismic monitoring is the geophysical discipline whereby multiple data sets recorded at the same location but at different times are used to locate and quantify temporal changes in the elastic parameters of the subsurface. We validate a time-lapse monitoring method by crosswell tomography using two types of wavefield-modeling...

The dynamics of statics

The statics problem, whether short wavelength, long wavelength, residual, or trim, has always been one of the more time-consuming and problematic steps in seismic data processing. We routinely struggle with issues such as poor signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, cycle skipping, truncated refractors, wavelets with ambiguous first arrival times, etc....

Simultaneous measurement of hysteresis in capillary pressure and electric permittivity for multiphase flow through porous media

We present a tool that simultaneously measures the complex permittivity and the capillary pressure characteristics for multiphase flow. The sample holder is a parallel plate capacitor. A precision component analyzer is used to measure the impedance amplitude and phase angle as a function of frequency (1 kHz to 3 MHz). The complex impedance of...

Seismic interferometry-turning noise into signal

Turning noise into useful data—every geophysicist's dream? And now it seems possible. The field of seismic interferometry has at its foundation a shift in the way we think about the parts of the signal that are currently filtered out of most analyses—complicated seismic codas (the multiply scattered parts of seismic waveforms) and background...

A new iterative solver for the time-harmonic wave equation

The time-harmonic wave equation, also known as the Helmholtz equation, is obtained if the constant-density acoustic wave equation is transformed from the time domain to the frequency domain. Its discretization results in a large, sparse, linear system of equations. In two dimensions, this system can be solved efficiently by a direct method. In...

Seismic processing in the inverse data space

Until now, seismic processing has been carried out by applying inverse filters in the forward data space. Because the acquired data of a seismic survey is always discrete, seismic measurements in the forward data space can be arranged conveniently in a data matrix (P). Each column in the data matrix represents one shot record. If we represent...