Constructing the seismic image in vertical time, as opposed to depth, eliminates the inherent ambiguity of resolving the vertical P -wave velocity from surface seismic data in transversely isotropic media with a vertical axis of symmetry (VTI media). By ray tracing in the space-time (x-τ)-domain, a traveltime map is built by interpolating the traveltime information along the rays onto a regular...

Offset is a geometrical nuisance when reflectors have dip. For this reason, we develop migration methods here and in the next chapter for forming images from hypothetical zero-offset seismic experiments. Although there is usually ample data recorded near zerooffset, we never record purely zero-offset seismic data. However, when we consider offset and dip together in chapter ?? we will encounter...

Angle-gather migration creates seismic images for different reflection angles at the reflector. We formulate an angle-gather time migration algorithm and study its properties. The algorithm serves as an educational introduction to the angle gather concept. It also looks attractive as a practical alternative to conventional common-offset time migration both for velocity analysis and for AVO/AVA ...

Angle-gather migration creates seismic images for different reflection angles at the reflector. We formulate an angle-gather time migration algorithm and study its properties. The algorithm serves as an educational introduction to the angle gather concept. It also looks attractive as a practical alternative to conventional common-offset time migration both for velocity analysis and for AVO/AVA ...

We propose a novel surface-aware ray tracing method based on implicit model representation. Each horizon is represented by a signed distance field and the spatial relationships between horizons are described by a stratigraphic binary tree. With this kind of implicit representation, complex structural model (e.g., heavily faulted, intrusions and unconformities) are easily handled, and the veloci...

In this paper, I apply the migration deconvolution to synthetic seismic images that have been distorted by cable feathering, migration velocity errors and recording geometry variations. The results show that migration deconvolution is able to suppress the velocity and geometry errors and can noticeably improve the quality of the migration image for both 2-D poststack and 3-D prestack migration....

A new approach to seismic migration formalizes the classical diffraction (or common-tangent) stack by relating it to linearized seismic inversion and the generalized Radon transform. This approach recasts migration as the problem of reconstructing the earth’s acoustic scattering potential from its integrals over isochron surfaces. The theory rests on a solution of the wave equation with the geo...

The inversion of seismic reflection data is challenging due to the oscillatory nature of the seismic data, the nonlinear relation between the data and the Earth’s model parameters, and the relative sensitivity of the different subsets of the data to the model parameters. Full-waveform inversion solves this inverse problem in the data space but is known to have shortcomings, especially because o...

When accompanied by the appropriate algorithmic approach, seismic imaging is an application that can take advantage of massively parallel computer systems. Three-dimensional (3D) prestack time migration (PSTM) and pre-stack depth migration (PSDM) are key components of seismic imaging and require very large computing resources. In this paper, we show that execution of these algorithms can be dra...