Multiparameter Full-waveform Inversion for Acoustic VTI Medium with Surface Seismic Data

SUMMARY In this study, we develop a strategy for multiparameter FWI for acoustic VTI medium with surface seismic data. Through parameterization analysis and synthetic tests, we find that it is more feasible to invert for the parameterization as vertical and horizontal velocities instead of inverting for the parameterization as vertical velocity and anisotropy fields. We develop a hierarchical approach to inverting vertical velocity first, but we keep anisotropy fields unchanged and only switch to joint inversion when vertical velocity inversion are approaching convergence. We demonstrate the success of our strategy for VTI FWI using synthetic and real data examples from the Gulf of Mexico. Our results show that incorporation of multiparameter FWI improves migration of large offset full azimuth broad band acquisition data and produces better focused migration images.