Up/down acoustic wavefield decomposition using a single propagation and its application in reverse time migration

Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. S341-S353
Author(s):  
Daniel E. Revelo ◽  
Reynam C. Pestana

The separation of up- and downgoing wavefields is an important technique in the processing of multicomponent recorded data, propagating wavefields, and reverse time migration (RTM). Most of the previous methods for separating up/down propagating wavefields can be grouped according to their implementation strategy: a requirement to save time steps to perform Fourier transform over time or construction of the analytical wavefield through a solution of the wave equation twice (one for the source and another for the Hilbert-transformed source), in which both strategies have a high computational cost. For computing the analytical wavefield, we are proposing an alternative method based on the first-order partial equation in time and by just solving the wave equation once. Our strategy improves the computation of wavefield separation, and it can bring the causal imaging condition into practice. For time extrapolation, we are using the rapid expansion method to compute the wavefield and its first-order time derivative and then we can compute the analytical wavefield. By computing the analytical wavefield, we can, therefore, separate the wavefield into up- and downgoing components for each time step in an explicit way. Applications to synthetic models indicate that our method allows performing the wavefield decomposition similarly to the conventional method, as well as a potential application for the 3D case. For RTM applications, we can now use the causal imaging condition for several synthetic examples. Acoustic RTM up/down decomposition demonstrates that it can successfully remove the low-frequency noise, which is common in the typical crosscorrelation imaging condition, and it is usually removed by applying a Laplacian filter. Moreover, our method is efficient in terms of computational time when compared to RTM using an analytical wavefield computed by two propagations, and it is a little more costly than conventional RTM using the crosscorrelation imaging condition.

Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-65
Author(s):  
Yingming Qu ◽  
Yixin Wang ◽  
Zhenchun Li ◽  
Chang Liu

Seismic wave attenuation caused by subsurface viscoelasticity reduces the quality of migration and the reliability of interpretation. A variety of Q-compensated migration methods have been developed based on the second-order viscoacoustic quasidifferential equations. However, these second-order wave-equation-based methods are difficult to handle with density perturbation and surface topography. In addition, the staggered grid scheme, which has an advantage over the collocated grid scheme because of its reduced numerical dispersion and enhanced stability, works in first-order wave-equation-based methods. We have developed a Q least-squares reverse time migration method based on the first-order viscoacoustic quasidifferential equations by deriving Q-compensated forward-propagated operators, Q-compensated adjoint operators, and Q-attenuated Born modeling operators. Besides, our method using curvilinear grids is available even when the attenuating medium has surface topography and can conduct Q-compensated migration with density perturbation. The results of numerical tests on two synthetic and a field data sets indicate that our method improves the imaging quality with iterations and produces better imaging results with clearer structures, higher signal-to-noise ratio, higher resolution, and more balanced amplitude by correcting the energy loss and phase distortion caused by Q attenuation. It also suppresses the scattering and diffracted noise caused by the surface topography.


Geophysics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. S569-S577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Zhao ◽  
Houzhu Zhang ◽  
Jidong Yang ◽  
Tong Fei

Using the two-way elastic-wave equation, elastic reverse time migration (ERTM) is superior to acoustic RTM because ERTM can handle mode conversions and S-wave propagations in complex realistic subsurface. However, ERTM results may not only contain classical backscattering noises, but they may also suffer from false images associated with primary P- and S-wave reflections along their nonphysical paths. These false images are produced by specific wave paths in migration velocity models in the presence of sharp interfaces or strong velocity contrasts. We have addressed these issues explicitly by introducing a primary noise removal strategy into ERTM, in which the up- and downgoing waves are efficiently separated from the pure-mode vector P- and S-wavefields during source- and receiver-side wavefield extrapolation. Specifically, we investigate a new method of vector wavefield decomposition, which allows us to produce the same phases and amplitudes for the separated P- and S-wavefields as those of the input elastic wavefields. A complex function involved with the Hilbert transform is used in up- and downgoing wavefield decomposition. Our approach is cost effective and avoids the large storage of wavefield snapshots that is required by the conventional wavefield separation technique. A modified dot-product imaging condition is proposed to produce multicomponent PP-, PS-, SP-, and SS-images. We apply our imaging condition to two synthetic models, and we demonstrate the improvement on the image quality of ERTM.


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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaobo Zhang ◽  
Xiutian Wang ◽  
Baohua Liu ◽  
Peng Song ◽  
Jun Tan ◽  
...  

Reverse time migration (RTM) is an ideal seismic imaging method for complex structures. However, in conventional RTM based on rectangular mesh discretization, the medium interfaces are usually distorted. Besides, reflected waves generated by the two-way wave equation can cause artifacts during imaging. To overcome these problems, a high-order finite-difference (FD) scheme and stability condition for the pseudo-space-domain first-order velocity-stress acoustic wave equation were derived, and based on the staggered-grid FD scheme, the RTM of the pseudo-space-domain acoustic wave equation was implemented. Model experiments showed that the proposed RTM of the pseudo-space-domain acoustic wave equation could systematically avoid the interface distortion problem when the velocity interfaces were considered to compute the pseudo-space-domain intervals. Moreover, this method could effectively suppress the false scattering of dipping interfaces and reflections during wavefield extrapolation, thereby reducing migration artifacts on the profile and significantly improving the quality of migration imaging.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 894-912
Author(s):  
Feipeng Li ◽  
Jinghuai Gao ◽  
Zhaoqi Gao ◽  
Xiudi Jiang ◽  
Wenbo Sun

Abstract Reverse time migration (RTM) has shown a significant advantage over other imaging algorithms for imaging complex subsurface structures. However, low-wavenumber noise severely contaminates the image, which is one of the main issues in the RTM algorithm. To attenuate the undesired low-wavenumber noise, the causal imaging condition based on wavefield decomposition has been proposed. First, wavefield decompositions are performed to separate the wavefields as up-going and down-going wave components, respectively. Then, to preserve causality, it constructs images by correlating wave components that propagate in different directions. We build a causal imaging condition in this paper. Not only does it consider the up/down wavefield decomposition, but it also applies the decomposition on the horizontal direction to enhance the image quality especially for steeply dipping structures. The wavefield decomposition is conventionally achieved by the frequency-wavenumber (F-K) transform that is very computationally intensive compared with the wave propagation process of the RTM algorithm. To improve the efficiency of the algorithm, we propose a fast implementation to perform wavefield separation using the discrete Hilbert transform via the Graphics Processing Unit. Numerical tests on both the synthetic models and a real data example demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and the efficiency of the optimized implementation scheme. This new imaging condition shows its ability to produce high image quality when applied to both the RTM stack image and also the angle domain common image gathers. The comparison of the total elapsed time for different methods verifies the efficiency of the optimized algorithm.


Geophysics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. S307-S314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yibo Wang ◽  
Yikang Zheng ◽  
Qingfeng Xue ◽  
Xu Chang ◽  
Tong W. Fei ◽  
...  

In the implementation of migration of multiples, reverse time migration (RTM) is superior to other migration algorithms because it can handle steeply dipping structures and offer high-resolution images of the complex subsurface. However, the RTM results using two-way wave equation contain high-amplitude, low-frequency noise and false images generated by improper wave paths in migration velocity model with sharp velocity interfaces or strong velocity gradients. To improve the imaging quality in RTM of multiples, we separate the upgoing and downgoing waves in the propagation of source and receiver wavefields. A complex function involved with the Hilbert transform is used in wavefield decomposition. Our approach is cost effective and avoids the large storage of wavefield snapshots required by the conventional wavefield separation technique. We applied migration of multiples with wavefield decomposition on a simple two-layer model and the Sigsbee 2B synthetic data set. Our results demonstrate that the proposed approach can improve the image generated by migration of multiples significantly.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Guo ◽  
JianPing Huang ◽  
JinQiang Huang ◽  
Qingyang Li ◽  
Feng Zhu

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