A new software tool for wide-angle reflection/refraction seismic data processing and representation (WASPAR)

The seismic methods are the most powerful existing technique to image the structure of the Earth’s subsurface. Depending on the system layout, the seismic methods can be divided into near-vertical reflection (NVS) techniques and wide-angle reflection/refraction (WAS) techniques. In contrast to NVS, the development of WAS preprocessing tools has deserved only minor attention to date and most existing tools have been developed by research institutions in order to process data from their own instruments. WAS processing is also done using existing tools as Seismic Unix, but these tools have been chiefly designed for NVS geometries and not all the techniques are therefore well-suited for proper WAS processing.