The impact of field-survey characteristics on surface-relatedmultiple attenuation

Field‐survey characteristics can have an important impact on the quality of multiples predicted by surface‐related multiple elimination (SRME) algorithms. This paperexamines the effects of three particular characteristics: in‐line spatial sampling, source stability, and cable feathering. Inadequate spatial sampling causes aliasing artefacts. These can be reduced by f–k filtering at the expense of limiting the bandwidth in the predicted multiples. Source‐signature variations create artefacts in predicted multiples due to spatial discontinuities. Variations from a well‐behaved airgun array produced artefacts having an rms amplitude about 26 dB below the rms amplitude of multiples predicted with no variations. Cable feathering has a large impact on the timingerrors in multiples predicted by 2D SRME when it is applied in areas having cross dip. All these problems can be reduced by a combination of better survey design, use of advanced data‐acquisition technologies, and additional data‐processing steps.