Full Waveform Inversion (FWI) aims to estimate high resolution velocity models by minimizing the difference between observed and modeled seismic waveforms. Good low frequency data plays an important role in the successful application of FWI. Variable-depth streamer acquisition delivers high signal-to-noise (S/N) seismic data over a significantly wider frequency bandwidth than standard streamer acquisition. We show that FWI adapts naturally to the variable-depth acquisition geometry and so benefits from the improved low frequencies recorded in this configuration. Application to data from the Central North Sea reveals detailed velocity features associated with shallow channels in the near surface geology. Migration with this updated velocity model improves the imaging through the near surface.
We apply Full Waveform Inversion (FWI) to narrow azimuth (NAZ) towed streamer data acquired in the Barents Sea. This study is over the Samson Dome region and the aim of the FWI is to resolve the velocity field, which is known for its geological and structural complexity in this area. The FWI result shows a spatial consistency that was unexpected from the standard 3D NAZ dataset and demonstrates the potential use of FWI velocity models in geological interpretation and shallow geohazard detection, even if the FWI result is effectively driven by the combination of velocity, anisotropy and density, rather than just P-wave velocity. Finally, as one would expect, the dramatic improvement in the accuracy and resolution of the velocity model gives rise to improved seismic imaging.
Full-waveform inversion of variable-depth streamer data: An application to shallow channel modeling in the North Sea I ndustry implementations of full-waveform inversion (FWI) are driven by the lower frequencies in the seismic data. is is in conflict with conventional acquisition scenarios where the free-surface ghost attenuates these desired low frequencies. In this article, we discuss the application of FWI to variable-depth streamer data and show that FWI adapts naturally to this acquisition geometry, hence benefitting from the improved low frequencies recorded in this configuration. We illustrate this with an example from the central North Sea, where detailed velocity features associated with the shallow channels in the near-surface geology are revealed by FWI. Migration with this updated velocity model improves the imaging through the near surface.
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