A method, including: generating updated velocity models, each corresponding to one of a plurality of initial velocity models of intersecting 2D seismic survey lines, wherein updates to the plurality of initial velocity models are computed by imposing a seismic-tie regularization constraint on an inversion process that inverts for the updates to the plurality of initial velocity models, and the seismic-tie regularization constraint causes the updated velocity models to have consistent values for depth of seismic reflectivity at intersecting spatial locations.

A computer implemented method including a numerical model of a region of the earth modeling the acoustic behavior of that region. The method implements an acoustic wave propagator allowing the simulation of the propagation of pure P-waves in transversal isotropic media. The propagator can be applied to applications such as seismic forward modeling, reverse time migration and other two-way wave-equation based applications.

Synthetic survey data is generated using a two-way or one-way wave propagator based on a current model of a target structure. The current model is modified to reduce a difference between the synthetic survey data and observed survey data, while maintaining unchanged a velocity component of the current model, where the modifying of the current model produces a modified model. The modified model is used to reduce an adverse effect of multiples in the target structure, or to promote a favorable effect of multiples in the target structure.

A method includes receiving, via a processor, input data based upon received seismic data, migrating, via the processor, the input data via a pre-stack depth migration technique to generate migrated input data, encoding, via the processor, the input data via an encoding function as a migration attribute to generate encoded input data having a migration function that is non-monotonic versus an attribute related to the input data, migrating, via the processor, the encoded input data via the pre-stack depth migration technique to generate migrated encoded input data, and generating an estimated common image gather based upon the migrated input data and the migrated encoded input data. The method also includes generating a seismic image utilizing the estimated common image gather, wherein the seismic image represents hydrocarbons in a subsurface region of the Earth or subsurface drilling hazards.

A method for generating seismic attribute gathers, the method including: computing, with a computer, seismic images with a field dataset; generating, with a computer, synthetic data corresponding to the seismic images; computing, with a computer, an attribute volume by applying an expectation method to the synthetic data; mapping, with a computer, the attribute volume to the seismic images; and generating, with a computer, seismic attribute gathers by stacking the seismic images mapped to the attribute volume.

A method, including: obtaining, with a computer, an initial geophysical model; modeling, with a computer, a forward wavefield based on the initial geophysical model with wave equations including a second order z-derivative in a rotated coordinate system that accounts for a tilted transverse isotropic (TTI) medium; modeling, with a computer, an adjoint wavefield with adjoint wave equations including a second order z-derivative in a rotated coordinate system that accounts for a tilted transverse isotropic (TTI) medium, wherein the wave equations and the adjoint wave equations include relaxation terms accounting for anelasticity of earth in an update of a primary variable and an evolution relationship for the relaxation terms; and obtaining, with a computer, a gradient of a cost function based on a combination of a model of the forward wavefield and a model of the adjoint wavefield.

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.

A computer-implemented method for seismic event localization includes: generating, with at least one processor, a vectorized snapshot matrix representing wave propagation data at a series of snapshots in time for a subterranean formation; computing a reduced orthonormal column basis matrix based on the vectorized snapshot matrix; constructing a reduced order wave propagation model based on the reduced orthonormal column basis matrix; receiving seismic data collected from a plurality of receivers at the subterranean formation; generating a time-domain coefficient matrix based on back propagation of the received seismic data and the reduced order wave propagation model; reconstructing time-reversed wavefield data based on the time-domain coefficient vector; and generating signals for outputting wavefield or seismic event location information based on the time-reversed wavefield data.

A method for efficiently injecting sources and retrieving receiver wavefields using finite difference models for wavefield simulations on a GPU, when the source and receiver are not on numerical grid points, and therefore arbitrarily located. To accomplish that, the method employs GPU texture memory to increase the memory read bandwidth, and then positions at arbitrary or simulated locations the sources in a finite difference grid, as well as extends them over a newly generated number of grid points.

A method for generating a seismic image representing a subsurface includes receiving seismic data for the subsurface formation, including receiver wavelet data and source wavelet data. Source wavefield data are generated based on a forward modeling of the source wavelet data. Receiver wavefield data are generated that compensate for distortions in the seismic data by: applying a dispersion-only model to the receiver wavelet data to generate a first reconstructed back-propagated receiver wavefield portion, applying a dissipation-only model to the receiver wavelet data to generate a second reconstructed back-propagated receiver wavefield portion, and combining the first back-propagated receiver wavefield portion and the second back-propagated receiver wavefield portion into the receiver wavefield data. The method includes applying an imaging condition to the receiver wavefield data and the source wavefield data and generating, based on applying the imaging condition, visco-acoustic reverse time migration (VARTM) result data.