Interferometric interpolation of missing seismic data

Interpolation of missing seismic data (such as missing nearoffset data, gaps, etc.) is an important issue in seismic surveys. Here we show that interferometry can be used to fill in some gaps in the data. The interferometric method creates virtual traces in the gaps by crosscorrelation of traces in a shot gather followed by summation over all shot positions. Compared to other interpolation methods, the interferometric method can "naturally" interpolate the missing data from the original shot gathers because it fills in the gaps with actual events. Interpolation results show that the near-offset traces can be kinematically interpolated, but amplitude corrections are needed.