Subsurface rock properties are manifested in seismic records as variations in traveltimes, amplitudes, and waveforms. It is commonly acknowledged that traveltimes are sensitive to the long wavelength part of the velocity, whereas amplitudes are sensitive to the short wavelength part of the velocity. The inherent sensitivity of seismic velocity at different wavelengths suggests an approach that ...

Complex computer simulators are increasingly used across fields of science as generative models tying parameters of an underlying theory to experimental observations. Inference in this setup is often difficult, as simulators rarely admit a tractable density or likelihood function. We introduce Adversarial Variational Optimization (AVO), a likelihood-free inference algorithm for fitting a non-di...

Browsing through the countless Stanford exploration Project (SEP) reports, I was amazed to find a large number of quality papers that tackle the sensitive issue of anisotropy. The amazement stems from the fact that a hidden principle, which states “anisotropy is not an important”, existed in SEP. This principle evolved from statements like “If you believe in anisotropy!” and “avoid the two A’s ...