Evolving Geophysics Through Innovation

Continuity along reflectors in seismic images is used via Curvelet representation to stabilize the convolution operator inversion. The Curvelet transform is a new multiscale transform that provides sparse representations for images that comprise smooth objects separated by piece-wise smooth discontinuities (e.g. seismic images). Our iterative Curvelet-regularized deconvolution algorithm combines conjugate gradient-based inversion with noise regularization performed using non-linear Curvelet coefficient thresholding. The thresholding operation enhances the sparsity of Curvelet representations. We show on a synthetic example that our algorithm provides improved resolution and continuity along reflectors as well as reduced ringing effect compared to the iterative Wiener-based deconvolution approach.