Double path-integral migration velocity analysis: a real data example

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessé C Costa ◽  
Jörg Schleicher
Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-50
Author(s):  
German Garabito ◽  
José Silas dos Santos Silva ◽  
Williams Lima

In land seismic data processing, the prestack time migration (PSTM) image remains the standard imaging output, but a reliable migrated image of the subsurface depends on the accuracy of the migration velocity model. We have adopted two new algorithms for time-domain migration velocity analysis based on wavefield attributes of the common-reflection-surface (CRS) stack method. These attributes, extracted from multicoverage data, were successfully applied to build the velocity model in the depth domain through tomographic inversion of the normal-incidence-point (NIP) wave. However, there is no practical and reliable method for determining an accurate and geologically consistent time-migration velocity model from these CRS attributes. We introduce an interactive method to determine the migration velocity model in the time domain based on the application of NIP wave attributes and the CRS stacking operator for diffractions, to generate synthetic diffractions on the reflection events of the zero-offset (ZO) CRS stacked section. In the ZO data with diffractions, the poststack time migration (post-STM) is applied with a set of constant velocities, and the migration velocities are then selected through a focusing analysis of the simulated diffractions. We also introduce an algorithm to automatically calculate the migration velocity model from the CRS attributes picked for the main reflection events in the ZO data. We determine the precision of our diffraction focusing velocity analysis and the automatic velocity calculation algorithms using two synthetic models. We also applied them to real 2D land data with low quality and low fold to estimate the time-domain migration velocity model. The velocity models obtained through our methods were validated by applying them in the Kirchhoff PSTM of real data, in which the velocity model from the diffraction focusing analysis provided significant improvements in the quality of the migrated image compared to the legacy image and to the migrated image obtained using the automatically calculated velocity model.


Geophysics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1213-1224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hervé Chauris ◽  
Mark S. Noble ◽  
Gilles Lambaré ◽  
Pascal Podvin

We demonstrate a method for estimating 2‐D velocity models from synthetic and real seismic reflection data in the framework of migration velocity analysis (MVA). No assumption is required on the reflector geometry or on the unknown background velocity field, provided that the data only contain primary reflections/diffractions. In the prestack depth‐migrated volume, locations where the reflectivity exhibits local coherency are automatically picked without interpretation in two panels: common image gathers (CIGs) and common offset gathers (COGs). They are characterized by both their positions and two slopes. The velocity is estimated by minimizing all slopes picked in the CIGs. We test the applicability of the method on a real data set, showing the possibility of an efficient inversion using (1) the migration of selected CIGs and COGs, (2) automatic picking on prior uncorrelated locally coherent events, (3) efficient computation of the gradient of the cost function via paraxial ray tracing from the picked events to the surface, and (4) a gradient‐type optimization algorithm for convergence.


Geophysics ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. WCA225-WCA231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Schleicher ◽  
Jessé C. Costa

The idea of path-integral imaging is to sum over the migrated images obtained for a set of migration velocity models. Velocities where common-image gathers align horizontally are stationary, thus favoring these images in the overall stack. The overall image forms with no knowledge of the true velocity model. However, the velocity information associated with the final image can be determined in the process. By executing the path-integral imaging twice and weighting one of the stacks with the velocity value, the stationary velocities that produce the final image can then be extracted by a division of the two images. The velocity extraction, interpola-tion, and smoothing can be done fully automatically, without the need for human interpretation or other intervention. A numerical example demonstrated that quantitative information about the migration velocity model can be determined by double path-integral migration. The so-obtained velocity model can then be used as a starting model for subsequent velocity analysis tools like migration velocity analysis or tomographic methods.


Geophysics ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 1283-1298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Biondo Biondi ◽  
William W. Symes

We analyze the kinematic properties of offset‐domain common image gathers (CIGs) and angle‐domain CIGs (ADCIGs) computed by wavefield‐continuation migration. Our results are valid regardless of whether the CIGs were obtained by using the correct migration velocity. They thus can be used as a theoretical basis for developing migration velocity analysis (MVA) methods that exploit the velocity information contained in ADCIGs. We demonstrate that in an ADCIG cube, the image point lies on the normal to the apparent reflector dip that passes through the point where the source ray intersects the receiver ray. The image‐point position on the normal depends on the velocity error; when the velocity is correct, the image point coincides with the point where the source ray intersects the receiver ray. Starting from this geometric result, we derive an analytical expression for the expected movements of the image points in ADCIGs as functions of the traveltime perturbation caused by velocity errors. By applying this analytical result and assuming stationary raypaths (i.e., small velocity errors), we then derive two expressions for the residual moveout (RMO) function in ADCIGs. We verify our theoretical results and test the accuracy of the proposed RMO functions by analyzing the migration results of a synthetic data set with a wide range of reflector dips. Our kinematic analysis leads also to the development of a new method for computing ADCIGs when significant geological dips cause strong artifacts in the ADCIGs computed by conventional methods. The proposed method is based on the computation of offset‐domain CIGs along the vertical‐offset axis and on the “optimal” combination of these new CIGs with conventional CIGs. We demonstrate the need for and the advantages of the proposed method on a real data set acquired in the North Sea.


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