Improved quality of depth images using reverse time migration
André Bulcão, Djalma Manoel Soares Filho, W.J. Mansur · 2007
This paper presents the results of a new scheme that improves the quality of the depth image obtained using Reverse Time Migration with acoustic full two way wave equation. In this scheme - with each time step — in both down-going and up-going wave fields a new procedure to split the wave fields is applied. As a result, most of the energy that is traveling in the upward direction is eliminated and only the energy in the downward direction remains. This avoids the artifacts caused by the reflected waves [Fletcher et all, 2006] which are traveling in the upward direction. The extension for 3D problems is straightforward. As will be shown with synthetic examples the quality of the depth images is greatly improved, without applying any kind of filter. This fact makes the output ideal for AVO (Amplitude Versus Offset) analysis, because the amplitudes associated with reflection coefficients are preserved.