Methods of analyzing and optimizing a seismic survey design are described. Specifically, the sampling quality is analyzed as opposed to the overall quality of the whole survey. This allows for analysis of the impact of the offsets, obstacles, and other aspects of the survey on the sampling quality, which will improve the ability to compress the resulting data and minimize acquisition footprints.

Systems and methods for detecting faults in the active damping of a logging tool are disclosed herein. A wellbore logging tool system comprises a processor, a memory, a wellbore logging tool comprising an acoustic transmitter, and a logging tool control module. The logging tool control module is operable to receive sensor signals from one or more sensors coupled to the wellbore logging tool after a damping control signal has been transmitted to the acoustic transmitter. The logging tool control module is also operable to determine one or more expected sensor signals, determine error values using the expected sensor signals and the sensor signals received from the one or more sensors, and compare the error values with one or more thresholds.

An example method includes at least partially positioning within a wellbore an optical fiber of a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) data collection system. Seismic data from the DAS data collection system may be received. The seismic data may include seismic traces associated with a plurality of depths in the wellbore. A quality factor may be determined for each seismic trace. One or more seismic traces may be removed from the seismic data based, at least in part, on the determined quality factors.

A survey plan is designed and potentially adjusted so that seismic data acquired during the survey include inline and cross-line seismic data irregularities suitable for compressive sensing reconstruction. At least one of the inline and cross-line irregularities is dynamic and may be due to source, vessel(s) and/or streamer steering.

A portion of an anisotropy formation through which a wellbore is formed can be identified. An estimate of an elastic anisotropy parameter for the portion can be adjusted based on a first quality control analysis using the elastic anisotropy parameter for the portion. The first signal representing the elastic anisotropy parameter for the portion. The estimate of the elastic anisotropy parameter for the portion can be adjusted based on a second quality control analysis using estimates for the elastic anisotropy parameters for two or more portions of the anisotropy formation.

An embodiment of a method of performing aspects of a downhole operation includes receiving a measurement value from a first sensor configured to measure a parameter related to the downhole operation, receiving measurement data from a different sensor, the measurement data related to the downhole operation, and performing, by a sensor evaluation module, an evaluation of the first sensor. The evaluation includes determining a condition of the first sensor based on the measurement data from the different sensor, selecting a rule that prescribes a set of one or more measurement values of the parameter that are plausible if the condition is met, and determining whether the measurement value from the first sensor is plausible based on comparing the measurement value to the prescribed set of one or more measurement values.

A method, and system to implement the process, of selecting a plurality of sets of source and receiver locations over a survey area, modeling on a subsurface attribute model of a subterranean region each source and receiver pair of the plurality of sets of source and receiver locations to generate low frequency seismic data, performing a reverse time migration on the low frequency seismic data to reposition diving wave energy of each source and receiver pair of the plurality of sets of source and receiver locations to generate a diving wave illumination image, extracting seismic amplitudes from the diving wave illumination image at a region of interest, and computing a contribution of a respective diving wave from each source and receiver pair of the plurality of sets of source and receiver locations to diving waves passing through the region of interest.

The present disclosure relates generally to signal comparison in seismic/acoustic imaging and data processing. In particular, this disclosure relates to a new nonlinear signal comparison (NLSC) approach which obtains a uniform resolution across a frequency band. The overall resolution in NLSC can be controlled over the frequency band by an adjustable parameter.

Systems and methods of placing wells in a hydrocarbon field based on seismic attributes and quality indicators associated with a subterranean formation of the hydrocarbon field can include receiving seismic attributes representing the subterranean formation and seismic data quality indicators. A cutoff is generated for each seismic attribute and seismic data quality indicator. A weight is assigned to each seismic attribute and seismic data quality indicator. The weighted seismic attributes and data quality indicators are aggregated for each location in the hydrocarbon field. A risk ranking is assigned based on the weighted seismic attributes and data quality indicators associated with each location in the hydrocarbon field based on the cutoffs. A map is generated with each location on the surface of the subterranean formation color-coded based on its assigned risk ranking.

A new method for iteratively picking the seismic first breaks and conducting imaging of the near-surface velocity structures in an iterative fashion is provided that the first-break picks of the input seismic data are applied to image the near-surface velocity structures and the calculated travel times associated with the updated velocity structures are applied to help refine the first-break picks in the first break picking process until first-break picks satisfy a number of quality control criteria, statics solutions are optimized, and the near surface imaging reaches an acceptable data misfit. This invention produces a velocity model that can be used for near surface statics corrections or for the prestack depth migration.