I perform singular value decomposition (SVD) on the matrices that result in tomographic velocity estimation from cross‐well traveltimes in isotropic and anisotropic media. The slowness model is parameterized in four ways: One‐dimensional (1-D) isotropic, 1-D anisotropic, two‐dimensional (2-D) isotropic, and 2-D anisotropic. The singular value distribution is different for the different parameterizations. One‐dimensional isotropic models can be resolved well but the resolution of the data is poor. One‐dimensional anisotropic models can also be resolved well except for some variations in the vertical component of the slowness that are not sensitive to the data. In 2-D isotropic models, “pure” lateral variations are not sensitive to the data, and when anisotropy is introduced, the result is that the horizontal and vertical component of the slowness cannot be estimated with the same spatial resolution because the null space is mostly related to horizontal and high frequency variations in the vertical component of the slowness. Since the distribution of singular values varies depending on the parametrization used, the effect of conventional regularization procedures in the final solution may also vary. When the model is isotropic, regularization translates into smoothness, and when the model is anisotropic regularization not only smooths but may also alter the anisotropy in the solution.
Denoising scheme based on singular-value decomposition for one-dimensional spectra and its application in precision storage-ring mass spectrometry