Methods and systems for forming a three-dimensional (“3D”) seismic image of a subterranean region of interest is disclosed. The method includes obtaining a seismic dataset a seismic trace for each of a plurality of pairs of one source and one receiver location and obtaining a 3D travel-time cube for each source location and each receiver location. The method further includes dividing the seismic dataset into a plurality of seismic subsets composed of set of source locations, set of receiver locations a seismic trace for each pair of source and receiver location and the 3D travel-time cube for each source for each receiver location. The method still further includes transmitting, to a random-access memory block of a computer processing unit the seismic subset, and forming a seismic partial image based on the seismic subset, and determining the 3D seismic image based on a combination of the seismic partial images.

Vertical Seismic Profile (VSP) analysis is a technique commonly used to conduct geophysical surveys of subterranean features. The processing of a VSP includes several steps, usually including a final step of depth migration. In order to properly process and image VSP data using depth migration, a velocity model of the subsurface must be known or derived. A variety of criteria can be used to ascertain whether the velocity used for migration is accurate.

The instant invention is designed to provide an adaptive approach to removing short-period time/phase distortions within a downward-continuation process that is a key component of seismic migration algorithms. Using techniques analogous to residual statics corrections that are used in standard seismic processing, one inventive approach estimates and removes the effects of short wavelength velocity disruptions, thereby creating clearer seismic images of the subsurface of the earth. Additionally, the instant method will provide an updated velocity model that can be used to obtain further image improvement.

The present invention relates to a one-way wave equation prestack depth migration method using an elastic generalized-screen (EGS) wave propagator capable of efficiently expressing the movement of an elastic wave passing through a mutual mode conversion between a P-wave and an S-wave while propagating boundary surfaces of an underground medium, by expanding, to an elastic wave equation, a conventional scalar generalized-screen (SGS) technique capable of quickly calculating the propagation of a wave in a medium in which there is a horizontal speed change, and according to the present invention, provided is a prestack EGS migration method for seismic wave multi-component data, which: can calculate a wave field with higher accuracy in a medium having a complex structure by expanding up to a second term of a Taylor series expansion of a vertical slowness term of a propagator; includes a mode separation operator in the propagator so as to directly use a shot gather as a migration input, without the need to separate multi-component data into a P-wave and an S-wave, enabling P-wave and S-wave image sections to be generated; and is configured to improve the quality of an S-wave migration image by correcting a polarity conversion in a wave number-frequency domain prior to S-wave imaging.

A method may include obtaining a P-wave velocity model and velocity ratio data regarding a geological region of interest. The method may further include generating, based on the P-wave velocity model and the velocity ratio data, an initial S-wave velocity model regarding the geological region of interest. The method may further include determining various velocity boundaries within the initial S-wave velocity model using a trained model. The method may further include updating the initial S-wave velocity model using the velocity boundaries, an automatically-selected cross-correlation lag value based on various seismic migration gathers, and a migration-velocity analysis to produce an updated S-wave velocity model. The method further includes generating a combined velocity model for the geological region of interest using the updated S-wave velocity model and the P-wave velocity model.

A method includes the steps of receiving a wavefield generated by reflections in a subsurface region and recorded by a plurality of seismic receivers and compensating the recorded wavefield for amplitude attenuation. The method further includes modelling a propagation of a source wavefield forward in time, from an initial time-state to a final time-state through an earth model that is representative of the subsurface region, wherein the modelling includes phase and amplitude effects of attenuation and modelling a propagation of the compensated recorded wavefield backward in time from a final time-state to an earlier time-state through the earth model, wherein the subsurface region has an absorption characteristic that dampens the recorded wavefield wherein the modelling includes phase and amplitude effects of attenuation.

Systems and methods for performing seismic migration using an indexed matrix are disclosed. The method includes receiving a seismic trace from a receiver, determining a discretized position of the receiver, and determining a discretized position of a seismic source. The method also includes determining a set of migration indexes based on a matrix, the discretized position of the receiver, and the discretized position of the seismic source, and determining a set of amplitude weights based on the matrix, the discretized position of the receiver, and the discretized position of the seismic source. The method further includes migrating the seismic trace based on the set of migration indexes and the set of amplitude weights.

This disclosure describes processes and systems for generating a high-resolution velocity model of a subterranean formation from recorded seismic data gathers obtained in a marine seismic survey of the subterranean formation. A velocity model is computed by iterative FWI using reflections, resolving the velocity field of deep subterranean targets without requiring ultralong offsets. The processes and systems use of an impedance sensitivity kernel to characterize reflections in a modeled wavefield, and then use the reflections to compute a velocity sensitivity kernel that is used to produce low-wavenumber updates to the velocity model. The iterative process is applied in a cascade such that position of reflectors and background velocity are simultaneously updated. Once the low-wavenumber components of the velocity model are updated, the velocity model is used as an input of conventional FWI to introduce missing velocity components (i.e., high-wavenumber) to increase the resolution of the velocity model.

In the present inventive method, individual traces of seismic data are migrated (41) without any assembling of different midpoints or any summing of different offsets, so that post-migration processing or analysis, e.g. trace alignment, may be applied to the individual migrated traces (42) to compensate for any deficiencies among them, before stack and assembly. Thus, the present invention fully separates the steps of migration (41), assembly (43), and stacking (44), which are combined together in traditional migration. Thus, imaging deficiencies can be measured and addressed in the image space before they are obscured by summation. Afterward, summation can proceed to construct the improved final image (45).

Limitations in accuracy and computing power requirements impeding conventional Kirchhoff migration and reverse time migration are overcome by using the wave-equation Kirchhoff, WEK, technique with Kirchhoff migration. WEK technique includes forward-propagating a low-frequency wavefield from a shot location among pre-defined source locations, calculating an arrival traveltime of a maximum amplitude of the low-frequency wavefield, and applying Kirchhoff migration using the arrival traveltime and the maximum amplitude.