Landmark Graphics Corporation

Shengwin Jin

Shiyong Xu

Seismic visibility analysis of selected subsurface structures is employed to determine surface locations offering high visibility of target events. These locations can then be used as a basis for acquiring additional seismic survey data and/or selecting existing traces for re-migration with more sophisticated migration methods. With either usage, the newly migrated data is expected to offer enhanced images of the target event. In some embodiments, the visibility determination includes using a wave equation based propagator to find, for each of multiple simulated shots, a reflection wavefield from the target event in a seismic model; and to calculate, for each of multiple receiver positions, a contribution signal from each reflection wavefield. The visibility determination further includes converting each contribution signal into a source-receiver visibility value. Because data acquisition and/or re-migration is limited to the selected region, the imaging effort for the target event is significantly reduced.

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Sugar Land, TX, United States of America

Shengwin Jin