Source‐Receiver Interferometric Redatuming Using Sparse Buried Receivers to Address Complex Near‐Surface Environments: A Case Study of Seismic Imaging Quality and Time‐Lapse Repeatability

2020 ◽  
Vol 125 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Zhao ◽  
Fenglin Niu ◽  
Hongwei Liu ◽  
Xueyi Jia ◽  
Jidong Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Imaging ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Imaging Quality

scholarly journals Near-surface real-time seismic imaging using parsimonious interferometry

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherif M. Hanafy ◽  
Hussein Hoteit ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Gerard T. Schuster
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Seismic Imaging ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Recording Time ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Arrival Times ◽  
Order Of Magnitude

AbstractResults are presented for real-time seismic imaging of subsurface fluid flow by parsimonious refraction and surface-wave interferometry. Each subsurface velocity image inverted from time-lapse seismic data only requires several minutes of recording time, which is less than the time-scale of the fluid-induced changes in the rock properties. In this sense this is real-time imaging. The images are P-velocity tomograms inverted from the first-arrival times and the S-velocity tomograms inverted from dispersion curves. Compared to conventional seismic imaging, parsimonious interferometry reduces the recording time and increases the temporal resolution of time-lapse seismic images by more than an order-of-magnitude. In our seismic experiment, we recorded 90 sparse data sets over 4.5 h while injecting 12-tons of water into a sand dune. Results show that the percolation of water is mostly along layered boundaries down to a depth of a few meters, which is consistent with our 3D computational fluid flow simulations and laboratory experiments. The significance of parsimonious interferometry is that it provides more than an order-of-magnitude increase of temporal resolution in time-lapse seismic imaging. We believe that real-time seismic imaging will have important applications for non-destructive characterization in environmental, biomedical, and subsurface imaging.

Novel strategies for complex foothills seismic imaging — Part 1: Mega-near-surface velocity estimation

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. T651-T665
Author(s):  
Yalin Li ◽  
Xianhuai Zhu ◽  
Gengxin Peng ◽  
Liansheng Liu ◽  
Wensheng Duan
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Imaging ◽  
Velocity Model ◽  
Velocity Estimation ◽  
Innovative Approach ◽  
Surface Velocity ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Depth Migration ◽  
Static Corrections ◽  
Over Time

Seismic imaging in foothills areas is challenging because of the complexity of the near-surface and subsurface structures. Single seismic surveys often are not adequate in a foothill-exploration area, and multiple phases with different acquisition designs within the same block are required over time to get desired sampling in space and azimuths for optimizing noise attenuation, velocity estimation, and migration. This is partly because of economic concerns, and it is partly because technology is progressing over time, creating the need for unified criteria in processing workflows and parameters at different blocks in a study area. Each block is defined as a function of not only location but also the acquisition and processing phase. An innovative idea for complex foothills seismic imaging is presented to solve a matrix of blocks and tasks. For each task, such as near-surface velocity estimation and static corrections, signal processing, prestack time migration, velocity-model building, and prestack depth migration, one or two best service companies are selected to work on all blocks. We have implemented streamlined processing efficiently so that Task-1 to Task-n progressed with good coordination. Application of this innovative approach to a mega-project containing 16 3D surveys covering more than [Formula: see text] in the Kelasu foothills, northwestern China, has demonstrated that this innovative approach is a current best practice in complex foothills imaging. To date, this is the largest foothills imaging project in the world. The case study in Kelasu successfully has delivered near-surface velocity models using first arrivals picked up to 3500 m offset for static corrections and 9000 m offset for prestack depth migration from topography. Most importantly, the present megaproject is a merge of several 3D surveys, with the merge performed in a coordinated, systematic fashion in contrast to most land megaprojects. The benefits of this approach and the strategies used in processing data from the various subsurveys are significant. The main achievement from the case study is that the depth images, after the application of the near-surface velocity model estimated from the megasurveys, are more continuous and geologically plausible, leading to more accurate seismic interpretation.

scholarly journals Near-Surface Geological Structure Seismic Wave Imaging Using the Minimum Variance Spatial Smoothing Beamforming Method

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 10827
Author(s):  
Ming Peng ◽  
Dengyi Wang ◽  
Liu Liu ◽  
Chengcheng Liu ◽  
Zhenming Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Imaging ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
Minimum Variance ◽  
Imaging Method ◽  
Spatial Smoothing ◽  
Underground Structures ◽  
Reverse Time ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Imaging Quality ◽  
Time Migration

Erecting underground structures in regions with unidentified weak layers, cavities, and faults is highly dangerous and potentially disastrous. An efficient and accurate near-surface exploration method is thus of great significance for guiding construction. In near-surface detection, imaging methods suffer from artifacts that the complex structure caused and a lack of efficiency. In order to realize a rapid, accurate, robust near-surface seismic imaging, a minimum variance spatial smoothing (MVSS) beamforming method is proposed for the seismic detection and imaging of underground geological structures under a homogeneous assumption. Algorithms such as minimum variance (MV) and spatial smoothing (SS), the coherence factor (CF) matrix, and the diagonal loading (DL) methods were used to improve imaging quality. Furthermore, it was found that a signal advance correction helped improve the focusing effect in near-surface situations. The feasibility and imaging quality of MVSS beamforming are verified in cave models, layer models, and cave-layer models by numerical simulations, confirming that the MVSS beamforming method can be adapted for seismic imaging. The performance of MVSS beamforming is evaluated in the comparison with Kirchhoff migration, the DAS beamforming method, and reverse time migration. MVSS beamforming has a high computational efficiency and a higher imaging resolution. MVSS beamforming also significantly suppresses the unnecessary components in seismic signals such as S-waves, surface waves, and white noise. Moreover, compared with basic delay and sum (DAS) beamforming, MVSS beamforming has a higher vertical resolution and adaptively suppresses interferences. The results show that the MVSS beamforming imaging method might be helpful for detecting near-surface underground structures and for guiding engineering construction.

A Step Change in Seismic Imaging Quality in Western Desert of Egypt - An Acquisition Case Study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Saleh ◽  
A. El.Fiki ◽  
J.M. Rodriguez ◽  
S. Laroche ◽  
K.Y. Castor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Imaging ◽  
Step Change ◽  
Western Desert ◽  
Imaging Quality

Seismic imaging beyond depth migration

Geophysics ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1895-1912 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Berkhout ◽  
D. J. Verschuur
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Imaging ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Velocity Model ◽  
Surface Layers ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Depth Migration ◽  
New Type ◽  
Complex Propagation ◽  
The Common ◽  
Focus Point

If seismic imaging is formulated in terms of two focusing steps—focusing in emission and focusing in detection (or vice versa)—the output of the first focusing step yields a new type of seismic gather, the common‐focus‐point (CFP) gather, which is available for data analysis and information extraction. One important consequence of this novel option is that the involved focusing operators can be updated without updating the underlying velocity model. Introducing the concept of “dynamic focusing,” it is proposed to verify the validity of focusing operators by comparing the “gather of focus‐point responses” with the “gather of focusing operators.” Compared with velocity‐driven time and depth migration, operator‐driven CFP migration can be considered as the most general approach to seismic imaging: it does not require a velocity model, and it automatically takes into account unknown complex propagation effects such as conversion, anisotropy, and dispersion. In addition, in CFP migration, the second focusing step can be extended to produce both angle‐averaged reflection information and angle‐dependent reflection information. The CFP approach to seismic migration allows new solutions in the situation of complex near‐surface layers, subsalt targets, multicomponent processing, and time lapse analysis.

Improving imaging and repeatability on land using virtual source redatuming with shallow buried receivers

Geophysics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. Q15-Q26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry Alexandrov ◽  
Andrey Bakulin ◽  
Roy Burnstad ◽  
Boris Kashtan
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Data ◽  
Near Field ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Elastic Model ◽  
Virtual Source ◽  
Field Zone ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Actual Field ◽  
Different Sources

Time-lapse surface seismic monitoring typically suffers from different sources of nonrepeatability related to acquisition imperfections as well as due to complexity of the subsurface. Placing sources and receivers below the surface can improve seismic data repeatability. However, it is not always possible to bury a large number of sources, and therefore the next best option is monitoring with surface sources and buried sensors. We have discovered that redatuming of surface sources to the shallow buried receivers produced a reliable image of target reflectors despite the fact that receivers were placed in the near-field zone of the source. We redatumed data with the virtual source method using crosscorrelation of the measured wavefields. We found that redatuming also reduced nonrepeatability of seismic data associated with changes in acquisition geometry, variable source coupling, and daily/seasonal variations in the near surface. We developed these results with a synthetic case study using a realistic 1D elastic model with a free surface and acquisition geometry from an actual field experiment conducted in Saudi Arabia.

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