Reverse time migration using water-bottom-related multiples

Reverse time migration of multiples can be used to construct subsurface structures where primaries cannot illuminate well. However, the images generated using multiples suffer from severe artefacts due to the cross-talks created by interference among unrelated multiples. We developed a migration approach using water-bottom-related multiples to reduce these cross-talk artefacts. This approach first isolates primaries from the original data and predicts water-column primaries. The nth-order water-column multiples can be obtained by auto-convolving the water-column primaries n times, followed by convolving the nth-order water-column multiples with the primaries to extract the (n+1)th-order water-bottom-related multiples. The approach takes the nth-order water-column multiples as the secondary source and regards the (n+1)th-order water-bottom-related multiples as the receiver wavefield, followed by a cross-correlation imaging condition. Numerical examples from synthetic and field data sets reveal that our approach can provide images with substantially fewer cross-talk artefacts than conventional reverse time migration using multiples, as well as greatly improving shallow imaging compared with reverse time migration of primaries.     

一阶多次波聚焦变换成像

将多次波转换成反射波并按传统反射波偏移算法成像,是多次波成像的一种方法.聚焦变换能准确的将多次波转换为纵向分辨率更高的新波场记录,其中一阶多次波转换为反射波.本文对聚焦变换提出了两点改进:1)提出局部聚焦变换,以减小存储量和计算量,增强该方法对检波点随炮点移动的采集数据的适应性;2)引入加权矩阵,理论上证明原始记录的炮点比检波点稀疏时,共检波点道集域的局部聚焦变换可以将多次波准确转换成炮点与检波点有相同采样频率的新波场记录.本文在第一个数值实验中对比了对包含反射波与多次波的原始记录做局部聚焦变换和直接对预测的多次波做局部聚焦变换两种方案,验证了第二种方案转换得到的波场记录信噪比更高且避免了第一个方案中切聚焦点这项比较繁杂的工作.第二个数值实验表明:在炮点采样较为稀疏时,该方法能有效的将一阶多次波转换成反射波;转换的反射波能提供更丰富的波场信息,成像结果更均衡、在局部有更高的信噪比,以及较高的纵向分辨率.     

多次波分阶逆时偏移成像

本文深入分析了多次波逆时偏移的成像原理和串扰假象产生机制,并提出了多次波分阶逆时偏移策略,即首先应用自由界面多次波衰减方法对原始炮集记录中的多次波进行剔除得到一次波记录,然后应用一次波记录预测获得各阶多次波记录,最后将各阶多次波记录分别进行逆时偏移成像.模型实验结果表明,多次波分阶逆时偏移其各阶多次波成像剖面均可对真实界面正确成像且其能够有效压制串扰假象,其中一阶多次波逆时偏移剖面的成像精度最高,其深层成像质量明显优于常规多次波逆时偏移.     

在成像空间中衰减多次波方法研究

在偏移后成像空间中的共成像点道集中可以对多次波进行衰减,对于给定的偏移速度模型,一次波与多次波在叠前偏移后的共成像点道集中具有不同的动校时差,这样我们就可以使用类似于偏移前衰减多次波的方法将一次波和多次波进行分离.本文在成像空间中应用抛物Radon变换分离多次波和有效波,由于每个共成像点道集都包含了复杂三维波场传播效应,所以本文方法具有处理三维数据和复杂地下构造的能力.相比于SRME以及传统Radon变换衰减多次波方法,本文方法能够在保持较小的计算量的同时,保证了衰减多次波的准确性.通过对模型数据试算和对实际数据的处理验证了本文方法在叠前时间偏移后衰减多次波的能力,并取得了很好的成像效果.     

地震多次波成像

地震资料含有各种类型多次波,而传统成像方法仅利用地震一次反射波成像,在地震成像前需将多次波去除.然而,多次波携带了丰富的地下结构信息,多次波偏移能够提供除反射波外的额外地下照明.修改传统逆时偏移方法,用包含一次反射波和多次波的原始记录代替震源子波,将SRME方法预测的表面多次波代替一次反射波作为输入数据,可将表面多次波成像.多次波成像的挑战和困难在于大量串扰噪声的产生,针对表面多次波成像中的成像噪声问题,将最小二乘逆时偏移方法与多次波分阶思想结合起来,发展可控阶数的表面多次波反演成像方法,有望初步实现高精度的表面多次波成像.在消除原始记录中的表面多次波后,通过逆散射级数方法预测得到层间多次波,将层间多次波作为逆时偏移方法的输入数据可将其准确归位到地下反射位置.数值实验表明,多次波成像能够有效地为地下提供额外照明,而可控阶表面多次波最小二乘逆时偏移成像方法几乎完全避免成像噪声.     

表面多次波最小二乘逆时偏移成像

使用相同的炮记录,多次波偏移能提供比反射波偏移更广的地下照明和更多的地下覆盖但是同时产生很多的串声噪声.相比传统逆时偏移,最小二乘逆时偏移反演的反射波成像结果具有更高的分辨率和更均衡的振幅.我们主要利用最小二乘逆时偏移压制多次波偏移产生的串声噪声.多次波最小二乘逆时偏移通常需要一定的迭代次数以较好地消除串声噪声.若提前将一阶多次波从所有阶数的多次波中过滤出来,使用相同的迭代次数,一阶多次波的最小二乘逆时偏移能够得到具有更高信噪比的成像剖面,而且能够提供与多次波最小二乘逆时偏移相似的有效地下结构成像.     

VSP上下行反射波联合成像方法研究

VSP资料上下行波场发育丰富.本文在分析VSP直达波、上行反射波、下行反射波传播路径及其照明范围的基础上,指出了常规VSP波动方程偏移方法缺陷,进而通过修改波场延拓方式,提出了上下行反射波联合成像方法,并在高频近似下分析了该方法的成像原理.该方法不需要进行VSP上下行反射波场分离,能够同时对VSP资料中的一次反射波、自由表面多次波、层间多次波进行成像,比常规成像剖面具有更宽的成像范围和更好的成像效果.该方法能够对下行一次反射波进行成像,从而可以实现常规偏移方法难以处理的高陡倾角构造成像.模拟资料和实际资料处理证明了本文方法的正确性.     

Modelling of viscoacoustic wave propagation in transversely isotropic media using decoupled fractional Laplacians

A new wave equation is derived for modelling viscoacoustic wave propagation in transversely isotropic media under acoustic transverse isotropy approximation. The formulas expressed by fractional Laplacian operators can well model the constant-Q (i.e. frequency-independent quality factor) attenuation, anisotropic attenuation, decoupled amplitude loss and velocity dispersion behaviours. The proposed viscoacoustic anisotropic equation can keep consistent velocity and attenuation anisotropy effects with that of qP-wave in the constant-Q viscoelastic anisotropic theory. For numerical simulations, the staggered-grid pseudo-spectral method is implemented to solve the velocity–stress formulation of wave equation in the time domain. The constant fractional-order Laplacian approximation method is used to cope with spatial variable-order fractional Laplacians for efficient modelling in heterogeneous velocity and Q media. Simulation results for a homogeneous model show the decoupling of velocity dispersion and amplitude loss effects of the constant-Q equation, and illustrate the influence of anisotropic attenuation on seismic wavefields. The modelling example of a layered model illustrates the accuracy of the constant fractional-order Laplacian approximation method. Finally, the Hess vertical transversely isotropic model is used to validate the applicability of the formulation and algorithm for heterogeneous media.     

VELOCITY-STACK PROCESSING1

A conventional velocity-stack gather consists of constant-velocity CMP-stacked traces. It emphasizes the energy associated with the events that follow hyperbolic traveltime trajectories in the CMP gather. Amplitudes along a hyperbola on a CMP gather ideally map onto a point on a velocity-stack gather. Because a CMP gather only includes a cable-length portion of a hyperbolic traveltime trajectory, this mapping is not exact. The finite cable length, discrete sampling along the offset axis and the closeness of hyperbolic summation paths at near-offsets cause smearing of the stacked amplitudes along the velocity axis. Unless this smearing is removed, inverse mapping from velocity space (the plane of stacking velocity versus two-way zero-offset time) back to offset space (the plane of offset versus two-way traveltime) does not reproduce the amplitudes in the original CMP gather. The gather resulting from the inverse mapping can be considered as the model CMP gather that contains only the hyperbolic events from the actual CMP gather. A least-squares minimization of the energy contained in the difference between the actual CMP gather and the model CMP gather removes smearing of amplitudes on the velocity-stack gather and increases velocity resolution. A practical application of this procedure is in separation of multiples from primaries. A method is described to obtain proper velocity-stack gathers with reduced amplitude smearing. The method involves a t²-stretching in the offset space. This stretching maps reflection amplitudes along hyperbolic moveout curves to those along parabolic moveout curves. The CMP gather is Fourier transformed along the stretched axis. Each Fourier component is then used in the least-squares minimization to compute the corresponding Fourier component of the proper velocity-stack gather. Finally, inverse transforming and undoing the stretching yield the proper velocity-stack gather, which can then be inverse mapped back to the offset space. During this inverse mapping, multiples, primaries or all of the hyperbolic events can be modelled. An application of velocity-stack processing to multiple suppression is demonstrated with a field data example.     

衰减干涉假象的海洋一次波与多次波同时成像方法

海水与空气间的强波阻抗差使得海洋地震资料普遍发育自由表面相关多次波,如何利用好多次波所携带的有效信息已成为提高海洋地震资料成像品质的新突破点.基于面炮偏移的一次波与多次波同时成像方法能够避免多次波预测精度的影响,但是,正向传播的震源子波与反向延拓的自由表面相关多次波所产生的干涉假象严重制约了该技术的应用,本文提出了一种基于单程波偏移算子,可在成像域压制干涉假象的一次波与多次波同时成像方法.其中包含了三个步骤:第一,传统单程波偏移成像方法中的震源子波替换为一次波、多次波与震源子波,初始上行延拓波场为一次波与多次波,基于单程波算子的波场延拓与互相关成像条件的应用得到包含干涉假象的一次波与多次波同时成像;第二,以子波为震源,自由表面相关多次波为记录,按照传统单程波偏移成像方法得到干涉假象;第三,基于最小二乘匹配滤波算法,将第一步的成像结果与第二步的干涉假象进行匹配相减,得到干涉假象衰减后的一次波与多次波同时成像,避开了由于实际资料子波无法准确提取而造成一次波与多次波对成像能量级的不一致性.Sigsbee2B模型测试验证了本方法的有效性,并在我国某探区深海实际资料处理中得到了成功应用,深层基底得到了清晰刻画,并且照明均衡度明显改善.     

Stratigraphic filtering of seismic waves: The influence of mode conversion multiples onP-wave andS-wave phase and attenuation

We demonstrate how multiples, generated at the interfaces of plane parallel beds, modify the propagation characteristics of an originally coherent seismic wave. For waves propagating at an angle to the bedding plane we find that theSV andP-waves couple so that neither is a pure mode. TheSH-wave, while modified in its propagation characteristics by multiples, remains a pure mode. The coupling ofSV-multiples into the quasi-P-mode appears weaker than the coupling ofP-wave multiples into the quasi-SV mode; at least this is so for the two simple cases of (a) density fluctuations only and (b) correlatedV _p andV _s fluctuations which conserve Poisson's ratio.We also find that the coupling is sensitive to both the angle of propagation and frequency. In addition there is a cut-off angle forP-wave multiples influencing the quasi-SV mode. Propagation angles larger than the cut-off permit theP-multiples to modify the phase of the quasi-SV mode, but not its effective attenuation. No such cut-off effect is found for SV-multiples influencing the quasi-P mode, whose angle-dependent and frequency-dependent phase distortion and effective attenuation are influenced both byP-wave multiples andSV-multiples.In view of the mathematical complexity of the expressions describing the phase, and effective attenuation of modes when allowance is made forP-andS-wave multiples, we strongly advocate numerical coding of the major mathematical formulae. By so doing a systematic study can be undertaken of the frequency and offset dependence of seismic waves as a function of seismic source input and power spectral behavior of the fluctuations in density and elastic constants of beds. It is our opinion that the full mathematical expressions are too involved to permit an analytic, systematic investigation to be given of the phase and attenuation of seismic waves with any degree of sophistication or generality.     

INVERSE Q-FILTERING. A SPECTRAL BALANCING TECHNIQUE*

Inverse Q-filtering (IQF) is a technique designed to correct for transmission losses due to inelastic attenuation. It is based on the constant-Q model and is derived from a Taylor series solution of a standard convolutional-trace model (primaries only). To avoid a non-causal solution, the attenuation is assumed to be minimum-phase. Band limitation is introduced to make IQF a stable process in the presence of noise. The main features of IQF are demonstrated using both synthetic and field data.     

数据自相关多次波偏移成像

在常规偏移方法中一般都需要压制地震数据中的多次波,仅利用一次波信息成像,把自由表面反射的多次波视为噪声,但是在多次波中也包含着地下结构信息,应该将其充分利用到成像中来.事实上,已经有不少成像方法试图利用多次波信息,但是大部分方法都需要对多次波进行预测.本文提出了基于傅里叶有限差分偏移算子的数据自相关偏移方法.在这种偏移方法中,对含有一次波和多次波的地震数据,分别进行下行和上行延拓,然后直接利用常规的互相关成像条件成像.由于波场延拓采用了傅里叶有限差分算子,其计算效率高,能够很好地对复杂介质中的地震数据进行延拓.在数值试验中,使用了一个含散射点的三层模型和Marmousi模型.合成数据测试结果表明,这种方法可以对更大范围的地下构造成像,比常规的只利用一次波的傅里叶有限差分法照明度更好,并且在浅层可以提供更高的分辨率.我们提出的数据自相关策略易于实现且避免了繁杂的多次波预测,这对于复杂地下构造成像可能有着重大意义.     

Stratigraphic filtering of SH waves in a spherical,layered earth

We present a derivation of the formula for filtering a transmitted SH wavelet by shortperiod multiples in a spherically layered Earth. We use a continuous, rather than a discrete formulation and regard the impedance and the velocity as random variables. The mean shear displacement represents the propagating wavelet as modified by short-period multiples. Standard procedures and approximations Lead to the dispersion relation of the mean displacement. To describe the stratigraphic filtering we introduce a complex quantityF such that a wavelet which has travelled a time T is modified by the filter exp {iFT}. The impact of the higher angular harmonic modes is shown to produce a relative enhancement of those modes over the low angular harmonic modes due to fluctuations in the shear-wave propagation velocity. Numerical estimates indicate that the sizes of the apparent attenuation of the mean field and the time delay introduced by the short-period multiples sit squarely in the regime where they produce a nonnegligible distortion of the SH modes of propagation in both phase and amplitude.     

Multiple attenuation using λ-f domain high-resolution Radon transform

The parabolic Radon transform has been widely used in multiple attenuation. To further improve the accuracy and efficiency of the Radon transform, we developed the 2- fdomain high-resolution Radon transform based on the fast and modified parabolic Radon transform presented by Abbad. The introduction of a new variable 2 makes the transform operator frequency-independent. Thus, we need to calculate the transform operator and its inverse operator only once, which greatly improves the computational efficiency. Besides, because the primaries and multiples are distributed on straight lines with different slopes in the 2-fdomain, we can easily choose the filtering operator to suppress the multiples. At the same time, the proposed method offers the advantage of high-resolution Radon transform, which can greatly improve the precision of attenuating the multiples. Numerical experiments suggest that the multiples are well suppressed and the amplitude versus offset characteristics of the primaries are well maintained. Real data processing results further verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the method.     

Full‐wavefield migration: using surface and internal multiples in imaging

Multiple scattering is usually ignored in migration algorithms, although it is a genuine part of the physical reflection response. When properly included, multiples can add to the illumination of the subsurface, although their crosstalk effects are removed. Therefore, we introduce full‐wavefield migration. It includes all multiples and transmission effects in deriving an image via an inversion approach. Since it tries to minimize the misfit between modeled and observed data, it may be considered a full waveform inversion process. However, full‐wavefield migration involves a forward modelling process that uses the estimated seismic image (i.e., the reflectivities) to generate the modelled full wavefield response, whereas a smooth migration velocity model can be used to describe the propagation effects. This separation of modelling in terms of scattering and propagation is not easily achievable when finite‐difference or finite‐element modelling is used. By this separation, a more linear inversion problem is obtained. Moreover, during the forward modelling, the wavefields are computed separately in the incident and scattered directions, which allows the implementation of various imaging conditions, such as imaging reflectors from below, and avoids low‐frequency image artefacts, such as typically observed during reverse‐time migration. The full wavefield modelling process also has the flexibility to image directly the total data (i.e., primaries and multiples together) or the primaries and the multiples separately. Based on various numerical data examples for the 2D and 3D cases, the advantages of this methodology are demonstrated.     

Strategies for stable attenuation compensation in reverse‐time migration

Attenuation in seismic wave propagation is a common cause for poor illumination of subsurface structures. Attempts to compensate for amplitude loss in seismic images by amplifying the wavefield may boost high‐frequency components, such as noise, and create undesirable imaging artefacts. In this paper, rather than amplifying the wavefield directly, we develop a stable compensation operator using stable division. The operator relies on a constant‐Q wave equation with decoupled fractional Laplacians and compensates for the full attenuation phenomena by performing wave extrapolation twice. This leads to two new imaging conditions to compensate for attenuation in reverse‐time migration. A time‐dependent imaging condition is derived by applying Q‐compensation in the frequency domain, whereas a time‐independent imaging condition is formed in the image space by calculating image normalisation weights. We demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of the proposed methods using three synthetic examples. We found that the proposed methods are capable of properly compensating for attenuation without amplifying high‐frequency noise in the data.     

Least-squares reverse-time migration for reflectivity imaging

A least-squares reverse-time migration scheme is presented for reflectivity imaging. Based on an accurate reflection modeling formula, this scheme produces amplitude-preserved stacked reflectivity images with zero phase. Spatial preconditioning, weighting and the Barzilai-Borwein method are applied to speed up the convergence of the least-squares inversion. In addition, this scheme compensates the effect of ghost waves to broaden the bandwidth of the reflectivity images. Furthermore, roughness penalty constraint is used to regularize the inversion, which in turn stabilizes inversion and removes high-wavenumber artifacts and mitigates spatial aliasing. The examples of synthetic and field datasets demonstrate the scheme can generate zerophase reflectivity images with broader bandwidth, higher resolution, fewer artifacts and more reliable amplitudes than conventional reverse-time migration.     

Migration of multiples from the South China Sea

The South China Sea where water depth is up to 5000 m is the most promising oil and gas exploration area in China in the future.The seismic data acquired in the South China Sea contain various types of multiples that need to be removed before imaging can be developed.However,compared with the conventional reflection migration,multiples carry more information of the underground structure that helps provide better subsurface imaging.This paper presents a method to modify the conventional reverse time migration so that multiple reflections can migrate to their correct locations in the subsurface.This approach replaces the numerical impulsive source with the recorded data including primaries and multiples on the surface,and replaces the recorded primary reflection data with multiples.In the reverse time migration process,multiples recorded on the surface are extrapolated backward in time to each depth level,while primaries and multiples recorded on the surface are extrapolated forward in time to the same depth levels.By matching the difference between the primary and multiple images using an objective function,this algorithm improves the primary resultant image.Synthetic tests on Sigsbee2 B show that the proposed method can obtain a greater range and better underground illumination.Images of deep water in the South China Sea are obtained using multiples and their matching with primaries.They demonstrate that multiples can make up for the reflection illumination and the migration of multiples is an important research direction in the future.     

不同阶次自由表面相关多次波预测与成像方法

海水与空气间的强波阻抗界面使得海洋地震数据普遍发育自由表面相关多次波,多次波信息的利用是提高海洋地震资料成像品质的新突破点.近年来发展了一系列多次波成像方法,干涉假象是制约其应用推广的关键问题之一.为了避免假象影响,本文提出了不同阶次自由表面相关多次波预测与成像方法,首先,修改了传统SRME(表面相关多次波衰减)方法中的边界条件,通过多次波升阶次与匹配相减的方法预测出不同阶次自由表面相关多次波;其次,基于单程波偏移算子和"面炮"偏移策略,以一次反射波或第(N-1)阶自由表面相关多次波为下行波场正向延拓,以第1阶多次或第N阶多次波为上行波场逆向延拓,并在每一层互相关成像得到第1阶或N阶多次波单独成像.本方法避免了低阶多次波和高阶多次波产生的相关假象,且相对于全波算子的偏移方法具有较高的计算效率,增强了多次波成像方法的实用性.单层模型和三层模型测试验证了本方法的正确性,并在我国某深海探区实际资料处理中得到了成功应用.相对于传统一次波成像,分阶次多次波成像具有更高的照明均衡度、垂向分辨率和信噪比.本研究表明,海洋多次波成像是一次波成像的有力补充,对于稳定海底沉积的深海地区,具有一定的应用前景.