Delaying the source ghost to improve the ultralow-frequency response of a marine air-gun source

Geophysics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
pp. P45-P51
Author(s):  
Honglei Shen ◽  
Thomas Elboth ◽  
Chunhui Tao ◽  
Gang Tian ◽  
Hanchuang Wang ◽  
...  

The competing effect between the fundamental bubble and its source-ghost response results in a strong attenuation of the lowest frequencies (below 7 Hz). This loss cannot be compensated easily by adjusting the source depth. Consequently, the low-frequency content in marine seismic data is not optimal, degrading the performance of low-frequency dependent processing approaches, such as full-waveform inversion. To overcome this, we have developed an additional source to counteract the ghost from the main source. In this situation, the fundamental bubble is characterized by the depth of the main source, whereas the ghost response is characterized by the summed depth of the main and additional sources. This source setup mitigates the competing effect and reduces the suppression of ultralow frequencies. Compared with a conventional horizontal source, our source design will reduce the mid- to high-frequency output, which may be beneficial in situations in which environmental constraints limit the maximum allowed output of a marine source.

Geophysics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. R989-R1001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleg Ovcharenko ◽  
Vladimir Kazei ◽  
Mahesh Kalita ◽  
Daniel Peter ◽  
Tariq Alkhalifah

Low-frequency seismic data are crucial for convergence of full-waveform inversion (FWI) to reliable subsurface properties. However, it is challenging to acquire field data with an appropriate signal-to-noise ratio in the low-frequency part of the spectrum. We have extrapolated low-frequency data from the respective higher frequency components of the seismic wavefield by using deep learning. Through wavenumber analysis, we find that extrapolation per shot gather has broader applicability than per-trace extrapolation. We numerically simulate marine seismic surveys for random subsurface models and train a deep convolutional neural network to derive a mapping between high and low frequencies. The trained network is then tested on sections from the BP and SEAM Phase I benchmark models. Our results indicate that we are able to recover 0.25 Hz data from the 2 to 4.5 Hz frequencies. We also determine that the extrapolated data are accurate enough for FWI application.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1017-1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Hu ◽  
Liguo Han ◽  
Rushan Wu ◽  
Yongzhong Xu

Abstract Full Waveform Inversion (FWI) is based on the least squares algorithm to minimize the difference between the synthetic and observed data, which is a promising technique for high-resolution velocity inversion. However, the FWI method is characterized by strong model dependence, because the ultra-low-frequency components in the field seismic data are usually not available. In this work, to reduce the model dependence of the FWI method, we introduce a Weighted Local Correlation-phase based FWI method (WLCFWI), which emphasizes the correlation phase between the synthetic and observed data in the time-frequency domain. The local correlation-phase misfit function combines the advantages of phase and normalized correlation function, and has an enormous potential for reducing the model dependence and improving FWI results. Besides, in the correlation-phase misfit function, the amplitude information is treated as a weighting factor, which emphasizes the phase similarity between synthetic and observed data. Numerical examples and the analysis of the misfit function show that the WLCFWI method has a strong ability to reduce model dependence, even if the seismic data are devoid of low-frequency components and contain strong Gaussian noise.


Solid Earth ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 765-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Górszczyk ◽  
Stéphane Operto ◽  
Laure Schenini ◽  
Yasuhiro Yamada

Abstract. Imaging via pre-stack depth migration (PSDM) of reflection towed-streamer multichannel seismic (MCS) data at the scale of the whole crust is inherently difficult. This is because the depth penetration of the seismic wavefield is controlled, firstly, by the acquisition design, such as streamer length and air-gun source configuration, and secondly by the complexity of the crustal structure. Indeed, the limited length of the streamer makes the estimation of velocities from deep targets challenging due to the velocity–depth ambiguity. This problem is even more pronounced when processing 2-D seismic data due to the lack of multi-azimuthal coverage. Therefore, in order to broaden our knowledge about the deep crust using seismic methods, we present the development of specific imaging workflows that integrate different seismic data. Here we propose the combination of velocity model building using (i) first-arrival tomography (FAT) and full-waveform inversion (FWI) of wide-angle, long-offset data collected by stationary ocean-bottom seismometers (OBSs) and (ii) PSDM of short-spread towed-streamer MCS data for reflectivity imaging, with the former velocity model as a background model. We present an application of such a workflow to seismic data collected by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and the Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER) in the eastern Nankai Trough (Tokai area) during the 2000–2001 Seize France Japan (SFJ) experiment. We show that the FWI model, although derived from OBS data, provides an acceptable background velocity field for the PSDM of the MCS data. From the initial PSDM, we refine the FWI background velocity model by minimizing the residual move-outs (RMOs) picked in the pre-stack-migrated volume through slope tomography (ST), from which we generate a better-focused migrated image. Such integration of different seismic datasets and leading-edge imaging techniques led to greatly improved imaging at different scales. That is, large to intermediate crustal units identified in the high-resolution FWI velocity model extensively complement the short-wavelength reflectivity inferred from the MCS data to better constrain the structural factors controlling the geodynamics of the Nankai Trough.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1757-1802
Author(s):  
C. Huang ◽  
L. Dong ◽  
Y. Liu ◽  
B. Chi

Abstract. Low frequency is a key issue to reduce the nonlinearity of elastic full waveform inversion. Hence, the lack of low frequency in recorded seismic data is one of the most challenging problems in elastic full waveform inversion. Theoretical derivations and numerical analysis are presented in this paper to show that envelope operator can retrieve strong low frequency modulation signal demodulated in multicomponent data, no matter what the frequency bands of the data is. With the benefit of such low frequency information, we use elastic envelope of multicomponent data to construct the objective function and present an elastic envelope inversion method to recover the long-wavelength components of the subsurface model, especially for the S-wave velocity model. Numerical tests using synthetic data for the Marmousi-II model prove the effectiveness of the proposed elastic envelope inversion method, especially when low frequency is missing in multicomponent data and when initial model is far from the true model. The elastic envelope can reduce the nonlinearity of inversion and can provide an excellent starting model.


Author(s):  
A. Tognarelli ◽  
E.M. Stucchi ◽  
N. Bienati ◽  
A. Sajeva ◽  
M. Aleardi ◽  
...  

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