scholarly journals One-step data-domain least-squares reverse time migration

Geophysics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. R361-R368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiancheng Liu ◽  
Daniel Peter

Least-squares reverse time migration (LSRTM) is an iterative inversion algorithm for estimating the broadband-wavenumber reflectivity model. Although it produces superior results compared with conventional reverse time migration (RTM), LSRTM is computationally expensive. We have developed a one-step LSRTM method by considering the demigrated and observed data to design a deblurring preconditioner in the data domain using the Wiener filter. For the Wiener filtering, we further use a stabilized division algorithm via the Taylor expansion. The preconditioned observed data are then remigrated to obtain a deblurred image. The total cost of this method is about two RTMs. Through synthetic and real data experiments, we see that one-step LSRTM is able to enhance image resolution and balance source illumination at low computational costs.

Geophysics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. S271-S279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junzhe Sun ◽  
Sergey Fomel ◽  
Tieyuan Zhu ◽  
Jingwei Hu

Attenuation of seismic waves needs to be taken into account to improve the accuracy of seismic imaging. In viscoacoustic media, reverse time migration (RTM) can be performed with [Formula: see text]-compensation, which is also known as [Formula: see text]-RTM. Least-squares RTM (LSRTM) has also been shown to be able to compensate for attenuation through linearized inversion. However, seismic attenuation may significantly slow down the convergence rate of the least-squares iterative inversion process without proper preconditioning. We have found that incorporating attenuation compensation into LSRTM can improve the speed of convergence in attenuating media, obtaining high-quality images within the first few iterations. Based on the low-rank one-step seismic modeling operator in viscoacoustic media, we have derived its adjoint operator using nonstationary filtering theory. The proposed forward and adjoint operators can be efficiently applied to propagate viscoacoustic waves and to implement attenuation compensation. Recognizing that, in viscoacoustic media, the wave-equation Hessian may become ill-conditioned, we propose to precondition LSRTM with [Formula: see text]-compensated RTM. Numerical examples showed that the preconditioned [Formula: see text]-LSRTM method has a significantly faster convergence rate than LSRTM and thus is preferable for practical applications.


Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. S567-S580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jizhong Yang ◽  
Yunyue Elita Li ◽  
Arthur Cheng ◽  
Yuzhu Liu ◽  
Liangguo Dong

Least-squares reverse time migration (LSRTM), which aims to match the modeled data with the observed data in an iterative inversion procedure, is very sensitive to the accuracy of the migration velocity model. If the migration velocity model contains errors, the final migration image may be defocused and incoherent. We have used an LSRTM scheme based on the subsurface offset extended imaging condition, least-squares extended reverse time migration (LSERTM), to provide a better solution when large velocity errors exist. By introducing an extra dimension in the image space, LSERTM can fit the observed data even when significant errors are present in the migration velocity model. We further investigate this property and find that after stacking the extended migration images along the subsurface offset axis within the theoretical lateral resolution limit, we can obtain an image with better coherency and fewer migration artifacts. Using multiple numerical examples, we demonstrate that our method provides superior inversion results compared to conventional LSRTM when the bulk velocity errors are as large as 10%.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. SN25-SN32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Wang ◽  
Shouting Huang ◽  
Ming Wang

Complex overburdens often distort reservoir images in terms of structural positioning, stratigraphic resolution, and amplitude fidelity. One prime example of a complex overburden is in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where thick and irregular layers of remobilized (i.e., allochthonous) salt are situated above prospective reservoir intervals. The highly variant salt layers create large lateral velocity variations that distort wave propagation and the illumination of deeper reservoir targets. In subsalt imaging, tools such as reflection tomography, full-waveform inversion, and detailed salt interpretation are needed to derive a high-resolution velocity model that captures the lateral velocity variations. Once a velocity field is obtained, reverse time migration (RTM) can be applied to restore structural positioning of events below and around the salt. However, RTM by nature is unable to fully recover the reflectivity for desired amplitudes and resolution. This shortcoming is well-recognized by the imaging community, and it has propelled the emergence of least-squares RTM (LSRTM) in recent years. We have investigated how current LSRTM methods perform on subsalt images. First, we compared the formulation of data-domain versus image-domain least-squares migration, as well as methods using single-iteration approximation versus iterative inversion. Then, we examined the resulting subsalt images of several LSRTM methods applied on the synthetic and field data. Among our tests, we found that image-domain single-iteration LSRTM methods, including an extension of an approximate inverse Hessian method in the curvelet domain, not only compensated for amplitude loss due to poor illumination caused by complex salt bodies, but it also produced subsalt images with fewer migration artifacts in the field data. In contrast, an iterative inversion method showed its potential for broadening the bandwidth in the subsalt, but it was less effective in reducing migration artifacts and noise. Based on our understanding, we evaluated the current state of LSRTM for subsalt imaging.


Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. S581-S598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin He ◽  
Yike Liu ◽  
Yanbao Zhang

In the past few decades, the least-squares reverse time migration (LSRTM) algorithm has been widely used to enhance images of complex subsurface structures by minimizing the data misfit function between the predicted and observed seismic data. However, this algorithm is sensitive to the accuracy of the migration velocity model, which, in the case of real data applications (generally obtained via tomography), always deviates from the true velocity model. Therefore, conventional LSRTM faces a cycle-skipping problem caused by a smeared image when using an inaccurate migration velocity model. To address the cycle-skipping problem, we have introduced an angle-domain LSRTM algorithm. Unlike the conventional LSRTM algorithm, our method updates the common source-propagation angle image gathers rather than the stacked image. An extended Born modeling operator in the common source-propagation angle domain is was derived, which reproduced kinematically accurate data in the presence of velocity errors. Our method can provide more focused images with high resolution as well as angle-domain common-image gathers (ADCIGs) with enhanced resolution and balanced amplitudes. However, because the velocity model is not updated, the provided image can have errors in depth. Synthetic and field examples are used to verify that our method can robustly improve the quality of the ADCIGs and the finally stacked images with affordable computational costs in the presence of velocity errors.


Geophysics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
pp. S285-S297
Author(s):  
Zhina Li ◽  
Zhenchun Li ◽  
Qingqing Li ◽  
Qingyang Li ◽  
Miaomiao Sun ◽  
...  

The migration of multiples can provide complementary information about the subsurface, but crosstalk artifacts caused by the interference between different-order multiples reduce its reliability. To mitigate the crosstalk artifacts, least-squares reverse time migration (LSRTM) of multiples is suggested by some researchers. Multiples are more affected by attenuation than primaries because of the longer travel path. To avoid incorrect waveform matching during the inversion, we propose to include viscosity in the LSRTM implementation. A method of LSRTM of multiples is introduced based on a viscoacoustic wave equation, which is derived from the generalized standard linear solid model. The merit of the proposed method is that it not only compensates for the amplitude loss and phase change, which cannot be achieved by traditional RTM and LSRTM of multiples, but it also provides more information about the subsurface with fewer crosstalk artifacts by using multiples compared with the viscoacoustic LSRTM of primaries. Tests on sensitivity to the errors in the velocity model, the Q model, and the separated multiples reveal that accurate models and input multiples are vital to the image quality. Numerical tests on synthetic models and real data demonstrate the advantages of our approach in improving the quality of the image in terms of amplitude balancing and signal-to-noise ratio.


Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. S539-S553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jidong Yang ◽  
Hejun Zhu ◽  
George McMechan ◽  
Houzhu Zhang ◽  
Yang Zhao

Using adjoint-based elastic reverse time migration, it is difficult to produce high-quality reflectivity images due to the limited acquisition apertures, band-limited source time function, and irregular subsurface illumination. Through iteratively computing the Hessian inverse, least-squares migration enables us to reduce the point-spread-function effects and improve the image resolution and amplitude fidelity. By incorporating anisotropy in the 2D elastic wave equation, we have developed an elastic least-squares reverse time migration (LSRTM) method for multicomponent data from the vertically transversely isotropic (VTI) media. Using the perturbed stiffness parameters [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] as PP and PS reflectivities, we linearize the elastic VTI wave equation and obtain a Born modeling (demigration) operator. Then, we use the Lagrange multiplier method to derive the corresponding adjoint wave equation and reflectivity kernels. With linearized forward modeling and adjoint migration operators, we solve a linear inverse problem to estimate the subsurface reflectivity models for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. To reduce the artifacts caused by data over-fitting, we introduce total-variation regularization into the reflectivity inversion, which promotes a sparse solution in terms of the model derivatives. To accelerate the convergence of LSRTM, we use source illumination to approximate the diagonal Hessian and use it as a preconditioner for the misfit gradient. Numerical examples help us determine that our elastic VTI LSRTM method can improve the spatial resolution and amplitude fidelity in comparison to adjoint migration.


Geophysics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. S159-S172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuejian Liu ◽  
Yike Liu ◽  
Huiyi Lu ◽  
Hao Hu ◽  
Majid Khan

In the correlative least-squares reverse time migration (CLSRTM) scheme, a stacked image is updated using a gradient-based inversion algorithm. However, CLSRTM experiences the incoherent stacking of different shots during each iteration due to the use of an imperfect velocity, which leads to image smearing. To reduce the sensitivity to velocity errors, we have developed prestack correlative least-squares reverse time migration (PCLSRTM), in which a gradient descent algorithm using a newly defined initial image and an efficiently defined analytical step length is developed to separately seek the optimal image for each shot gather before the final stacking. Furthermore, a weighted objective function is also designed for PCLSRTM, so that the data-domain gradient can avoid a strong truncation effect. Numerical experiments on a three-layer model as well as a marine synthetic and a field data set reveal the merits of PCLSRTM. In the presence of velocity errors, PCLSRTM shows better convergence and provides higher quality images as compared with CLSRTM. With the newly defined initial image, PCLSRTM can effectively handle observed data with unbalanced amplitudes. By using a weighted objective function, PCLSRTM can provide an image with enhanced resolution and balanced amplitude while avoiding many imaging artifacts.


Geophysics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. V23-V31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Lian Duan ◽  
Yi Xie

By adapting reverse time migration (RTM) and demigration as the migration and modeling operators to maximize the crosscorrelation between the simulated and the acquired seismic data, we introduced a new practical least-squares RTM (LSRTM) scheme and derived a steepest descent method in seeking the optimal image. Through synthetic and real data experiments, we determined that the proposed LSRTM provided high-quality images with balanced amplitudes, improved focusing, and enhanced resolution. The method was also capable of removing free surface ghosts caused by towed streamer acquisition, filling the structures and reducing crosstalk noise associated with simultaneous shooting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 304-316
Author(s):  
Di Wu ◽  
Yanghua Wang ◽  
Jingjie Cao ◽  
Nuno V da Silva ◽  
Gang Yao

Abstract Least-squares reverse-time migration (RTM) works with an inverse operation, rather than an adjoint operation in a conventional RTM, and thus produces an image with a higher resolution and more balanced amplitude than the conventional RTM image. However, least-squares RTM introduces two side effects: sidelobes around reflectors and high-wavenumber migration artifacts. These side effects are caused mainly by the limited bandwidth of seismic data, the limited coverage of receiver arrays and the inaccuracy of the modeling kernel. To mitigate these side effects and to further boost resolution, we employed two sparsity constraints in the least-squares inversion operation, namely the Cauchy and L1-norm constraints. For solving the Cauchy-constrained least-squares RTM, we used a preconditioned nonlinear conjugate-gradient method. For solving the L1-norm constrained least-squares RTM, we modified the iterative soft thresholding method. While adopting these two solution methods, the Cauchy-constrained least-squares RTM converged faster than the L1-norm constrained least-squares RTM. Application examples with synthetic data and laboratory modeling data demonstrated that the constrained least-squares RTM methods can mitigate the side effects and promote image resolution.


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