Excitation amplitude imaging condition for prestack reverse-time migration

Geophysics ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. S37-S46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bao D. Nguyen ◽  
George A. McMechan

An implicitly stable ratio imaging condition for prestack reverse-time migration (RTM) was defined using excitation criteria. Amplitude maxima and their corresponding occurrence times were saved at each grid point during forward source wavefield extrapolation. Application of the imaging condition involves dividing the amplitudes of the back-propagated receiver wavefield by the precomputed maximum source wavefield amplitude only at the grid points that satisfy the image time at each time step. The division normalizes by the source amplitude, so only the highest signal-to-noise ratio portion of the data is used. Provided that the source and receiver wavefield amplitudes are accurate at the reflection points, the peak wavelet amplitudes in the migrated image are the angle-dependent reflection coefficients and low wavenumber artifacts are significantly reduced compared to those in images calculated by crosscorrelation. Using excitation information and time-binning for the imaging condition improves computational and storage efficiency by three or more orders of magnitude when compared to crosscorrelation with the full source wavefield. Numerical tests with synthetic data for the Marmousi2 model have shown this method to be a cost-effective and practical imaging condition for use in prestack RTM.

Geophysics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. S359-S376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Tang ◽  
George A. McMechan

Because receiver wavefields reconstructed from observed data are not as stable as synthetic source wavefields, the source-propagation vector and the reflector normal have often been used to calculate angle-domain common-image gathers (ADCIGs) from reverse time migration. However, the existing data flows have three main limitations: (1) Calculating the propagation direction only at the wavefields with maximum amplitudes ignores multiarrivals; using the crosscorrelation imaging condition at each time step can include the multiarrivals but will result in backscattering artifacts. (2) Neither amplitude picking nor Poynting-vector calculations are accurate for overlapping wavefields. (3) Calculating the reflector normal in space is not accurate for a structurally complicated reflection image, and calculating it in the wavenumber ([Formula: see text]) domain may give Fourier truncation artifacts. We address these three limitations in an improved data flow with two steps: During imaging, we use a multidirectional Poynting vector (MPV) to calculate the propagation vectors of the source wavefield at each time step and output intermediate source-angle-domain CIGs (SACIGs). After imaging, we use an antitruncation-artifact Fourier transform (ATFT) to convert SACIGs to ADCIGs in the [Formula: see text]-domain. To achieve the new flow, another three innovative aspects are included. In the first step, we develop an angle-tapering scheme to remove the Fourier truncation artifacts during the wave decomposition (of MPV) while preserving the amplitudes, and we use a wavefield decomposition plus angle-filter imaging condition to remove the backscattering artifacts in the SACIGs. In the second step, we compare two algorithms to remove the Fourier truncation artifacts that are caused by the plane-wave assumption. One uses an antileakage FT (ALFT) in local windows; the other uses an antitruncation-artifact FT, which relaxes the plane-wave assumption and thus can be done for the global space. The second algorithm is preferred. Numerical tests indicate that this new flow (source-side MPV plus ATFT) gives high-quality ADCIGs.


Geophysics ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. S29-S39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faqi Liu ◽  
Guanquan Zhang ◽  
Scott A. Morton ◽  
Jacques P. Leveille

Reverse-time migration (RTM) exhibits great superiority over other imaging algorithms in handling steeply dipping structures and complicated velocity models. However, low-frequency, high-amplitude noises commonly seen in a typical RTM image have been one of the major concerns because they can seriously contaminate the signals in the image if they are not handled properly. We propose a new imaging condition to effectively and efficiently eliminate these specific noises from the image. The method works by first decomposing the source and receiver wavefields to their one-way propagation components, followed by applying a correlation-based imaging condition to the appropriate combinations of the decomposed wavefields. We first give the physical explanation of the principle of such noises in the conventional RTM image. Then we provide the detailed mathematical theory for the new imaging condition. Finally, we propose an efficient scheme for its numerical implementation. It replaces the computationally intensive decomposition with the cost-effective Hilbert transform, which significantly improves the efficiency of the imaging condition. Applications to various synthetic and real data sets demonstrate that this new imaging condition can effectively remove the undesired low-frequency noises in the image.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Guillermo Paniagua Castrillón ◽  
Olga Lucia Quintero Montoya ◽  
Daniel Sierra-Sosa

ABSTRACT. Reverse time migration (RTM) solves the acoustic or elastic wave equation by means of the extrapolation from source and receiver wavefield in time. A migrated image is obtained by applying a criteria known as imaging condition. The cross-correlation between source and receiver wavefields is the commonly used imaging condition. However, this imaging condition produces spatial low-frequency noise, called artifacts, due to the unwanted correlation of the diving, head and backscattered waves. Several techniques have been proposed to reduce the artifacts occurrence. Derivative operators as Laplacian are the most frequently used. In this work, we propose a technique based on a spiral phase filter ranging from 0 to 2π, and a toroidal amplitude bandpass filter, known as Laguerre-Gauss transform. Through numerical experiments we present the application of this particular filter on three synthetic data sets. In addition, we present a comparative spectral study of images obtained by the zero-lag cross-correlation imaging condition, the Laplacian filtering and the Laguerre-Gauss filtering, showing their frequency features. We also present evidences not only with simulated noisy velocity fields but also by comparison with the model velocity field gradients that this method improves the RTM images by reducing the artifacts and notably enhance the reflective events. Keywords: Laguerre-Gauss transform, zero-lag cross-correlation, seismic migration, imaging condition. RESUMO. A migração reversa no tempo (RTM) resolve a equação de onda acústica ou elástica por meio da extrapolação a partir do campo de onda da fonte e do receptor no tempo. Uma imagem migrada é obtida aplicando um critério conhecido como condição de imagem. A correlação cruzada entre campos de onda de fonte e receptor é a condição de imagem comumente usada. No entanto, esta condição de imagem produz ruído espacial de baixa frequência, chamados artefatos, devido à correlação indesejada das ondas de mergulho, cabeça e retrodifusão. Várias técnicas têm sido propostas para reduzir a ocorrência de artefatos. Operadores derivados como Laplaciano são os mais utilizados. Neste trabalho, propomos uma técnica baseada em um filtro de fase espiral que varia de 0 a 2π, e um filtro passabanda de amplitude toroidal, conhecido como transformada de Laguerre-Gauss. Através de experimentos numéricos, apresentamos a aplicação deste filtro particular em três conjuntos de dados sintéticos. Além disso, apresentamos um estudo comparativo espectral de imagens obtidas pela condição de imagem de correlação cruzada atraso zero, a filtragem de Laplaciano e a filtragem Laguerre-Gauss, mostrando suas características de frequência. Apresentamos evidências não somente com campos simulados de velocidade ruidosa, mas também por comparação com os gradientes de campo de velocidade do modelo que este método melhora as imagens RTM, reduzindo os artefatos e aumentando notavelmente os eventos reflexivos. Palavras-chave: Transformação de Laguerre-Gauss, correlação cruzada atraso zero, migração sísmica, condição de imagem.


Geophysics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. S261-S269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahesh Kalita ◽  
Tariq Alkhalifah

Common-image gathers (CIGs) are extensively used in migration velocity analysis. Any defocused events in the subsurface offset domain or equivalently nonflat events in angle-domain CIGs are accounted for revising the migration velocities. However, CIGs from wave-equation methods such as reverse time migration are often expensive to compute, especially in 3D. Using the excitation amplitude imaging condition that simplifies the forward-propagated source wavefield, we have managed to extract extended images for space and time lags in conjunction with prestack reverse time migration. The extended images tend to be cleaner, and the memory cost/disk storage is extensively reduced because we do not need to store the source wavefield. In addition, by avoiding the crosscorrelation calculation, we reduce the computational cost. These features are demonstrated on a linear [Formula: see text] model, a two-layer velocity model, and the Marmousi model.


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