ON THE RESPONSE OF MARINE SEISMIC STREAMER SYSTEMS*

The response of transformer-coupled and transformerless marine seismic streamers feeding seismic amplifiers with and without input transformer is analysed with the aid of equivalent circuits. Examples are calculated showing how improvements in the performance of two practical transformer-coupled streamers, namely the increase in bandwidth and sensitivity and the decrease in the dependence on cable length, can be achieved when some of the streamers parameters are properly chosen. Transformerless streamer systems driving either a voltage amplifier or a “charge” amplifier are shown to be inherently superior to those with coupling transformers, save possibly in respect of their sensitivity to cross-feed.     

基于波动方程的上下缆地震数据鬼波压制方法研究

本文发展基于波动方程的上下缆鬼波压制方法,推导了上下缆地震波场频率波数域波动方程延拓合并公式.基于Fourier变换的波场解析延拓确保上下缆资料振幅相位的一致性,消除了长拖缆远偏移距信号的计算误差,同时具有较高的计算效率;上下缆地震波场的波动方程法合并有效解偶鬼波干涉,实现综合利用上下缆地震数据压制鬼波.理论模型数据和实际采集地震数据的测试表明了方法的有效性.     

两种斜缆采集正演模拟及虚反射压制效果分析

斜缆采集是近些年发展起来的海上采集技术,主要为了压制虚反射,获得高品质的宽频地震资料。线形斜缆和弧形斜缆是目前最常用的斜缆类型,能够获取较多的高低频信息。针对这两种斜缆采集方式,通过对比不同采集参数的地震记录及其消除虚反射后的数据,发现弧形斜缆采集观测系统明显优于线形斜缆,不仅在波场模拟中表现出较好的特征,而且在虚反射消除的过程中,引入了较小的噪声,能够获得较高信噪比的地震资料。分析模型测试的结果,证明海上地震勘探中更适合采用弧形斜缆。     

Kirchhoff型偏移反偏移串联地震数据炮检距转换技术

零炮检距数据在海洋地震资料处理中有很多优势和用途,然而,受海洋水平拖缆地震采集作业方式的限制,接收数据的最小炮检距一般在200 m左右,小于该炮检距的数据是无法直接获得的.通常的做法是通过对较大炮检距数据进行动校,通过外推来变相获得零炮检距（包括小炮检距）数据,其外推的精度会受到地震资料信噪比、动校正速度的精度等因素影响,并且保幅性较差.本文通过一种基于Kirchhoff真振幅偏移和反偏移串联的技术,在反偏移过程中改变观测系统,有效实现了大炮检距反射地震数据向零炮检距（包括小炮检距）数据之间的转换,且很好地保持了零炮检距（包括小炮检距）数据的振幅特性.同时,经偏移-反偏移串联处理后,有效压制了地震数据中的随机噪声,地震资料信噪比和成像精度均得到显著提高.

     

Quantitative gas saturation estimation by frequency‐dependent amplitude‐versus‐offset analysis

Seismic amplitudes contain important information that can be related to fluid saturation. The amplitude‐versus‐offset analysis of seismic data based on Gassmann's theory and the approximation of the Zoeppritz equations has played a central role in reservoir characterization. However, this standard technique faces a long‐standing problem: its inability to distinguish between partial gas and “fizz‐water” with little gas saturation. In this paper, we studied seismic dispersion and attenuation in partially saturated poroelastic media by using frequency‐dependent rock physics model, through which the frequency‐dependent amplitude‐versus‐offset response is calculated as a function of porosity and water saturation. We propose a cross‐plotting of two attributes derived from the frequency‐dependent amplitude‐versus‐offset response to differentiate partial gas saturation and “fizz‐water” saturation. One of the attributes is a measure of “low frequency”, or Gassmann, of reflectivity, whereas the other is a measure of the “frequency dependence” of reflectivity. This is in contrast to standard amplitude‐versus‐offset attributes, where there is typically no such separation. A pragmatic frequency‐dependent amplitude‐versus‐offset inversion for rock and fluid properties is also established based on Bayesian theorem. A synthetic study is performed to explore the potential of the method to estimate gas saturation and porosity variations. An advantage of our work is that the method is in principle predictive, opening the way to further testing and calibration with field data. We believe that such work should guide and augment more theoretical studies of frequency‐dependent amplitude‐versus‐offset analysis.     

近海高分辨率多道地震拖缆系统及其在海洋工程中的应用

目前我国近海工程地震勘探主要使用单道地震拖缆接收,地层分辨率较低,无法进行速度分析、覆盖叠加等精细处理.为了解决此问题,本文提出近海高分辨率多道地震拖缆技术,并结合该技术的研究成果,简要介绍了多道地震勘探系统组成和地震拖缆的结构设计,讨论了拖缆水听器的选择,组内距、道间距的确定,并给出了一个工程应用实例.该系统可以满足今后海洋研究和工程勘探的需要,在试验和应用中取得了很好的探测效果,具有很好的应用前景.     

Sea surface shape derivation above the seismic streamer

The rough sea surface causes perturbations in the seismic data that can be significant for time‐lapse studies. The perturbations arise because the reflection response of the non‐flat sea perturbs the seismic wavelet. In order to remove these perturbations from the received seismic data, special deconvolution methods can be used, but these methods require, as input, the time varying wave elevation above each hydrophone in the streamer. In addition, the vertical displacement of the streamer itself must also be known at the position of each hydrophone and at all times. This information is not available in conventional seismic acquisition. However, it can be obtained from the hydrophone measurements provided that the hydrophones are recorded individually (not grouped), that the recording bandwidth is extended down to 0.05 Hz and that data are recorded without gaps between the shot records. The sea surface elevation, and also the wave‐induced vertical displacement of the streamer, can be determined from the time‐varying pressure that the sea waves cause in the hydrophone measurements. When this was done experimentally, using a single sensor seismic streamer without a conventional low cut filter, the wave induced pressure variations were easily detected. The inversion of these experimental data gives results for the sea surface elevation that are consistent with the weather and sea state at the time of acquisition. A high tension approximation allows a simplified solution of the equations that does not demand a knowledge of the streamer tension. However, best results at the tail end of the streamer are obtained using the general equation.     

基于多用户峰度准则的海洋强噪声衰减方法(英文)

海洋地震勘探过程中,由于采集设备的老化或电源的不稳定而造成的漏电,在地震记录表现为强噪音干扰,利用常规噪音衰减方法处理此类强噪音效果并不理想。鉴于强噪音在统计学上具有相同的特性,本文在基于峰度的盲分离(blind source separation,BSS)算法研究基础上,推导出一种基于多用户峰度(multiuser kurtosis,MUK)准则的噪音衰减算法来估计地震记录中具有相同统计特性的强噪音,并将其从地震记录中分离,从而达到衰减强噪音的目的。模型试验与实际资料的处理表明:该方法能够在好的衰减海洋地震勘探记录中的强噪音,保留了更多的有效信息,提高海洋地震数据的信噪比,具有可行性和应用前景。     

Rough seas and statistical deconvolution

The rough‐sea reflection‐response varies (1) along the streamer (2) from shot to shot and (3) with time along the seismic trace. The resulting error in seismic data can be important for time‐lapse imaging. One potential way of reducing the rough‐sea receiver error is to use conventional statistical deconvolution, but special care is needed in the choice of the design and application windows. The well‐known deconvolution problem associated with the non‐whiteness of the reflection series is exacerbated by the requirement of an unusually short design window – a requirement that is imposed by the non‐stationary nature of the rough‐sea receiver wavelet. For a synthetic rough‐sea data set, with a white 1D reflection series, the design window needs to be about 1000 ms long, with an application window about 400 ms long, centred within the design window. Although such a short design window allows the deconvolution operator to follow the time‐variation of the rough‐sea wavelet, it is likely to be too short to prevent the non‐whiteness of the geology from corrupting the operator when it is used on real data. If finely spatial‐sampled traces are available from the streamer, the design window can be extended to neighbouring traces, making use of the spatial correlations of the rough‐sea wavelet. For this ‘wave‐following’ approach to be fruitful, the wind (and hence the dominant wave direction) needs to be roughly along the line of the streamer.     

Intra-survey reservoir fluctuations – implications for quantitative 4D seismic analysis

During the time taken for seismic data to be acquired, reservoir pressure may fluctuate as a consequence of field production and operational procedures and fluid fronts may move significantly. These variations prevent accurate quantitative measurement of the reservoir change using 4D seismic data. Modelling studies on the Norne field simulation model using acquisition data from ocean-bottom seismometer and towed streamer systems indicate that the pre-stack intra-survey reservoir fluctuations are important and cannot be neglected. Similarly, the time-lapse seismic image in the post-stack domain does not represent a difference between two states of the reservoir at a unique base and monitor time, but is a mixed version of reality that depends on the sequence and timing of seismic shooting. The outcome is a lack of accuracy in the measurement of reservoir changes using the resulting processed and stacked 4D seismic data. Even for perfect spatial repeatability between surveys, a spatially variant noise floor is still anticipated to remain. For our particular North Sea acquisition data, we find that towed streamer data are more affected than the ocean-bottom seismometer data. We think that this may be typical for towed streamers due to their restricted aperture compared to ocean-bottom seismometer acquisitions, even for a favourable time sequence of shooting and spatial repeatability. Importantly, the pressure signals on the near and far offset stacks commonly used in quantitative 4D seismic inversion are found to be inconsistent due to the acquisition timestamp. Saturation changes at the boundaries of fluid fronts appear to show a similar inconsistency across sub-stacks. We recommend that 4D data are shot in a consistent manner to optimize aerial time coverage, and that additionally, the timestamp of the acquisition should be used to optimize pre-stack quantitative reservoir analysis.     

Field trial of seismic recording using distributed acoustic sensing with broadside sensitive fibre‐optic cables

Distributed acoustic sensing is an emerging technology using fibre‐optic cables to detect acoustic disturbances such as flow noise and seismic signals. The technology has been applied successfully in hydraulic fracture monitoring and vertical seismic profiling. One of the limitations of distributed acoustic sensing for seismic recording is that the conventional straight fibres do not have broadside sensitivity and therefore cannot be used in configurations where the raypaths are essentially orthogonal to the fibre‐optic cable, such as seismic reflection methods from the surface. The helically wound cable was designed to have broadside sensitivity. In this paper, a field trial is described to validate in a qualitative sense the theoretically predicted angle‐dependent response of a helically wound cable. P‐waves were measured with a helically wound cable as a function of the angle of incidence in a shallow horizontal borehole and compared with measurements with a co‐located streamer. The results show a similar behaviour as a function of the angle of incidence as the theory. This demonstrates the possibility of using distributed acoustic sensing with a helically wound cable as a seismic detection system with a horizontal cable near the surface. The helically wound cable does not have any active parts and can be made as a slim cable with a diameter of a few centimetres. For that reason, distributed acoustic sensing with a helically wound cable is a potential low‐cost option for permanent seismic monitoring on land.     

Design,modelling and imaging of marine seismic swarm surveys

Autonomous marine vehicles instrumented with seismic sensors allow for new efficient seismic survey designs. One such design is the swarm survey, where a group, or swarm, of slow moving autonomous marine vehicles record seismic data from shots fired by a source vessel sailing around circles within the swarm. The size of the swarm is dictated by the maximum offset requirement of the survey, and it can be shaped to acquire wide‐ and full‐azimuth data. The swarm survey design equation describes the relationship between the source and receiver positions of the survey and the subsurface coverage or fold. It is used to adapt the swarm to the seismic survey requirements and to calculate survey duration time estimates as function of available equipment. It is shown that a survey conducted by a slowly moving swarm requires six times fewer shots than an equivalent seabed node survey conducted over 85.5 km². Swarm surveys can also be adapted to efficiently conduct infill surveys and replace multi‐vessel undershoots. The efficiency of the survey can further be increased when the autonomous marine vehicles are towing short streamers with multiple receivers. Synthetic tests show that the seismic images for swarm surveys are comparable to those from streamer surveys, while little variation in image quality is found when reducing the number of autonomous marine vehicles but equipping them with a short streamer with multiple receivers.     

台湾西南海域地震数据处理及天然气水合物地震属性

对台湾西南海域增生楔部位长排列多道地震数据进行地震成像、速度分析、AVO分析、AVO反演处理,获得了天然气水合物多属性地震特征.在偏移剖面上,BSR与海底近似平行,极性与海底相反,穿越沉积层.AVO分析显示,强BSR振幅部位,BSR振幅随偏移距增大而增大.精细速度分析表明强BSR振幅下方存在纵波低速层.对应于强BSR振幅部位,AVO反演的P波、G波为相对高负值区,位于P、G交会图的第三象限,该部位泊松比变化率为负值,横波反射系数接近于零.以上多属性地震特征均预示着该区域可能存在天然气水合物层,且天然气水合物层下方可能存在游离甲烷气层.     

基于叠前方位振幅的大港—埕海地区奥陶系风化壳裂缝储层的叠前预测

P波通过裂缝地层传播时,其响应会随着地面观测方位的变化而变化,表现出明显的方位各向异性.这种随方位变化的裂缝响应信息(如振幅等)广泛存在于叠前方位一偏移距二维空间域中,检测此域中的裂缝响应,通过椭圆拟合的方法识别各向异性的存在,进而计算裂缝的方向——椭圆长轴的方向,和裂缝密度——椭圆长轴与短轴的比.本文研究出了一种基于常规叠前地震反射振幅来检测裂缝的三维叠前裂缝储层预测方法.它采用面元组合的方法扩大方位角和偏移距范围;采用多级数据控制技术获取所需的信息;采用稳妥的技术步骤来预测.通过大港油田实际工区的应用,结果表明本文研究出的方法技术应用效果好、精度高、经济实用.     

频率慢度域自适应迭代反演算法压制海上倾斜缆鬼波方法及其应用

海上倾斜缆采集技术具有多样的陷波特征,通过去鬼波处理可获得宽频数据.针对海水面波浪起伏及缆深误差引起的鬼波延迟时间估计误差以及崎岖海底和目的层深度变化使得鬼波和一次反射波的振幅差异系数随偏移距的变化而难以给定一个固定值的问题,本文推导出频率慢度域中鬼波滤波算子以及自适应迭代反演求解上行波算法,该鬼波滤波算子与不同水平慢度对应的鬼波和一次反射波的振幅差异系数以及鬼波延迟时间有关.并基于计算出的理论下行波与实际下行波之间的平方误差最小理论实现自适应反演迭代最优计算该振幅差异系数和鬼波延迟时间.合成的及某海上采集的倾斜缆数据去鬼波处理结果表明,频率慢度域自适应迭代反演算法能较好地去除海上变深度缆鬼波,能达到拓宽地震记录频带目的.     

Seismic characterization of basalt flows from the Faroes margin and the Faroe-Shetland basin

High‐quality seismic profiles across the Faroes volcanic continental margin and the adjacent continental shelf show contrasting styles of basalt emplacement across two major structural boundaries. At the rifted continental margin, the basalts form prominent seaward dipping reflector sequences up to 5 km thick. The same basalts, after they had travelled in a landward direction across the elevated, subaerial Faroes shelf, produced prominent landward dipping foresets, where they flowed across the paleo‐coastline into the deep water of the Faroe‐Shetland Basin. In both cases we are able to image details of the internal structure of the basalts as a result of using a low‐frequency airgun source capable of penetrating through the basalt sequence, together with long‐offset recordings from ocean bottom seismometers and a 12 km long, deep‐towed, hydrophone streamer.     

Application of common reflection angle migration for imaging deformation structures in an inner accretionary wedge,Nankai Trough,Japan

To better image deformation structures within the inner accretionary wedge of the Nankai Trough, Japan, we apply common reflection angle migration to a legacy two-dimensional seismic data set acquired with a 6 km streamer cable. In this region, many seismic surveys have been conducted to study the seismogenic zone related to plate subduction. However, the details of the accreted sediments beneath the Kumano forearc basin are still unclear due to the poor quality of seismic images caused by multiple reflections, highly attenuated signals, and possibly complex geological structures. Generating common image gathers in the subsurface local angle domain rather than the surface offset domain is more advantageous for imaging geological structures that involve complex wave paths and poor illumination. By applying this method, previously unseen structures are revealed in the thick accreted sediments. The newly imaged geometric features of reflectors, such as the folds in the shallow part of the section and the deep reflectors with stepwise discontinuities, imply deformation structures with multiple thrust faults. The reflections within the deep accreted sediments (approximately 5 km) are mainly mapped to far angles (30°–50°) in the common reflection angles, which correspond to the recorded offset distances greater than 4.5 km. This result indicates that the far offset/angle information is critical to image the deformation structures at depth. The new depth image from the common reflection angle migration provides seismic evidence of multiple thrust faults and their relationship with the megathrust fault that is essential for understanding the structure and evolution of the Nankai Trough seismogenic zone.     

LOW-FREQUENCY STANDARD HYDROPHONE * FOR CALIBRATING LINE HYDROPHONE ARRAYS (SEISMIC STREAMERS) AND MARINE SEISMIC SOURCES **

The design of a standard hydrophone with a maximally flat (Butterworth) response in the frequency range 8.0 Hz-1.0 kHz is described. The standard hydrophone has been developed primarily for calibrating line hydrophone arrays (seismic streamers) and marine seismic sources. The standard hydrophone has been used successfully during the past eight years for monitoring the output of a single air gun. It can be used for the calibration of a marine seismic streamer.     

Seismic response of steel frame structures with hybrid passive control systems

The concept of the hybrid passive control system is studied analytically by investigating the seismic response of steel frame structures. Hybrid control systems consist of two different passive elements combined into a single device or system. The hybrid systems investigated in this research consist of a rate‐dependent damping device paired with a rate‐independent energy dissipation element. The innovative configurations exploit individual element strengths and offset their weaknesses through multiphased behavior. A nine‐story, five‐bay steel moment‐frame was used for the analysis. Six different seismic resisting systems were analyzed and compared. The conventional systems included a special moment‐resisting frame (SMRF) and a dual SMRF–buckling‐restrained brace (BRB) system. The final four configurations are hybrid passive systems. The different hybrid configurations utilize a BRB and either a high‐damping rubber damper or viscous fluid damper. The analyses were run in the form of an incremental dynamic analysis. Several damage measures were calculated, including maximum roof drift, base shear, and total roof acceleration. The results demonstrate the capability of hybrid passive control systems to improve structural response compared with conventional lateral systems and to be effective for performance‐based seismic design. Each hybrid configuration improved some aspect of structural response with some providing benefits for multiple damage measures. The multiphased nature provides improved response for frequent and severe seismic events. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Combining two seismic experiments to attenuate free-surface multiples in OBC data*

The current inverse scattering solution used for multiple attenuation of marine seismic reflection data assumes that sources and receivers are located in the water. To adapt this solution to the ocean-bottom cable (OBC) experiment where receivers are located on the sea-floor, we have proposed combining the conventional marine surface seismic reflection data (streamer data) with OBC data. The streamer data add to the OBC data some of the wave paths needed for multiple attenuation. This combination has allowed us to develop a multiple attenuation method for OBC data which does not require any knowledge of the subsurface and which takes into account all free-surface multiples, including receiver ghosts. A non-linear synthetic data example consisting of pressure and particle velocity fields is used to illustrate the procedure.