Source–receiver two‐way wave extrapolation for prestack exploding‐reflector modelling and migration

Most modern seismic imaging methods separate input data into parts (shot gathers). We develop a formulation that is able to incorporate all available data at once while numerically propagating the recorded multidimensional wavefield forward or backward in time. This approach has the potential for generating accurate images free of artiefacts associated with conventional approaches. We derive novel high‐order partial differential equations in the source–receiver time domain. The fourth‐order nature of the extrapolation in time leads to four solutions, two of which correspond to the incoming and outgoing P‐waves and reduce to the zero‐offset exploding‐reflector solutions when the source coincides with the receiver. A challenge for implementing two‐way time extrapolation is an essential singularity for horizontally travelling waves. This singularity can be avoided by limiting the range of wavenumbers treated in a spectral‐based extrapolation. Using spectral methods based on the low‐rank approximation of the propagation symbol, we extrapolate only the desired solutions in an accurate and efficient manner with reduced dispersion artiefacts. Applications to synthetic data demonstrate the accuracy of the new prestack modelling and migration approach.     

Sources of δ18O Concentration Variability in Greenland Ice Cores: Temperature, North Atlantic Oscillation and Solar Activity

This work concerns possible connection between variations of δ¹⁸O in Greenland ice, temperature, precipitation amount, NAO indices and relative sunspot numbers. The relationships between 10-year averaged values of this data were derived making use of regression analysis methods. It was discovered that February temperature yields the main contribution in variability of δ¹⁸O. The multiple correlation coefficient between weighted night temperature of the most important months and δ¹⁸O equals 0.95±0.01. Besides the local source of δ¹⁸O changes, defined by the amount of precipitation and temperature, an additional source correlated with the level of solar activity has been revealed. The relative contribution of this source in the δ¹⁸O variance is about 0.1. It has been shown that the multiple correlation coefficient between δ¹⁸O and NAO indices is equal to 0.85. Therefore the NAO yields more than 2/3 of the variances of climatic change in Greenland. An independent contribution of solar activity in climatic changes is about 1/3.     

Statistical description of the Black Sea near-surface circulation using drifters in 1999–2003

The near-surface circulation in the Black Sea is studied with the data of 54 satellite-tracked drifters in the period 1999–2003. The drifter trajectories confirm the prevalence of the Rim Current trapped on the continental slope (between water depths of 400 and 1800 m) along the periphery of the basin where sub-inertial speeds can reach 1 m/s. Some drifters were found to complete an entire basin loop with the Rim Current in 90–180 days. Meanders and loops in the tracks prove the existence of mostly anticyclonic circulation features inshore of the Rim Current, including strong signatures of the Batumi and Sevastopol eddies. They also reveal the presence of cyclonic and anticyclonic currents in most areas of the Black Sea. Pseudo-Eulerian statistics (averaged in 50-km bins), that is, mean currents and the corresponding velocity variances, show a strong and highly fluctuating signature of the Rim Current and the enhanced variability associated with the Batumi and Sevastopol eddies. The latter is also collocated with the branching of the Rim Current southwest of the Crimean Peninsula. It is shown that the kinetic energy is mainly in the mean for the Rim Current and in the velocity fluctuations elsewhere. Seasonal variability is also explored. The Rim Current tends to form a stronger single loop trapped on the continental slope in winter/spring, whereas in summer/fall the mean circulation is more meandering, recirculation cells appear in the central areas and the bifurcation southwest of Crimea is enhanced. There is some evidence of the reversal of sense of rotation of the currents in the Batumi Eddy region, changing from mainly anticyclonic in summer/fall to cyclonic in winter/spring. Mean residence times were calculated in the 50-km bins, with values ranging from a few days in the central basin to 8 days in the northwestern coastal area. Globally, the kinetic energy levels were found higher in winter–spring and lower in summer–fall, with a significant maximum in March. Single-particle Lagrangian statistics were computed for the entire basin, for the two extended seasons, and in selected local areas. Velocity variance, diffusivity and Lagrangian integral time scales are generally larger in the zonal direction. Globally, the velocity variance is 174 and 127 cm²/s² in the zonal and meridional directions, respectively, after the removal of the pseudo-Eulerian mean circulation. For the zonal direction, a diffusivity value of 4.5×10⁷ cm²/s and Lagrangian integral time and space scales of 3 days and 34 km were found. For the meridional direction, these statistics amount to 4.5×10⁷ cm²/s, 1.2 days and 12.2 km. Seasonal and geographical variations of these Lagrangian statistics were also assessed, showing variations between 1.9 (0.9) 10⁷ and 8.3 (2.0) 10⁷ cm²/s for the diffusivity in the zonal (meridional) direction. Integral time and space scales vary between 1 and 4.7 days, and 8.8 and 58 km, respectively. Seasonal differences are significant only in the zonal direction, where the diffusivity increases from 3.1×10⁷ to 5.9×10⁷ cm²/s and the integral scales vary from 2.1 days (24 km) to 3.8 days (44 km) from summer/fall to winter/spring.     

A fast algorithm for 3D azimuthally anisotropic velocity scan

The conventional velocity scan can be computationally expensive for large‐scale seismic data sets, particularly when the presence of anisotropy requires multiparameter scanning. We introduce a fast algorithm for 3D azimuthally anisotropic velocity scan by generalizing the previously proposed 2D butterfly algorithm for hyperbolic Radon transforms. To compute semblance in a two‐parameter residual moveout domain, the numerical complexity of our algorithm is roughly as opposed to of the straightforward velocity scan, with N being the representative of the number of points in a particular dimension of either data space or parameter space. Synthetic and field data examples demonstrate the superior efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

On anelliptic approximations for qP velocities in VTI media

A unified approach to approximating phase and group velocities of qP seismic waves in a transversely isotropic medium with vertical axis of symmetry (VTI) is developed. While the exact phase‐velocity expressions involve four independent parameters to characterize the elastic medium, the proposed approximate expressions use only three parameters. This makes them more convenient for use in surface seismic experiments, where the estimation of all four parameters is problematic. The three‐parameter phase‐velocity approximation coincides with the previously published ‘acoustic’ approximation of Alkhalifah. The group‐velocity approximation is new and noticeably more accurate than some of the previously published approximations. An application of the group‐velocity approximation for finite‐difference computation of traveltimes is shown.     

末次冰盛期以来鄂霍次克海北部陆架的海冰变化

本文通过高分辨率粒度分析,研究了鄂霍次克海北部陆架LV87-54-1岩芯记录的海冰活动历史。利用AnalySize程序对粒度数据进行端元分析,提取了3个端元,并将EM3作为海冰指标。EM3含量结果表明,末次冰盛期以来鄂霍次克海北部陆架以活动性海冰覆盖为主。末次冰盛期和海因里希冰阶1期（HS 1）时EM3含量最高,指示海冰活动强烈。冰期时北半球中高纬度气候变冷与北极涛动负相位是导致海冰大规模扩张的主要控制机制,东亚夏季风减弱与黑龙江入海径流量的减少促使鄂霍次克海生成更多的海冰。自波令−阿勒罗德间冰阶开始以来,鄂霍次克海北部陆架海冰生成急剧减少,在新仙女木时期海冰曾出现微弱峰值,随后又快速下降。自全新世以来,受北半球中高纬度气候变暖、秋季太阳辐射量升高、北极涛动正相位和东亚夏季风的增强共同影响,EM3含量一直稳定在较低水平,鄂霍次克海海冰的生成受到明显抑制。