Method of off-shore seismic prospecting

Abstract

An off-shore seismic prospecting method for enabling at least two ships to prospect over a single site simultaneously, in which each of the ships generates disturbances in the off-shore environment and uses sensors to record seismic traces containing useful information concerning the geology of the subsoil. A ship is liable to constitute a point source of noise for another ship, which noise gives rise to an undesirable signal that masks said useful information. According to the invention said point source of noise is localized in three dimensions and the space-time coordinates thereof [(X'(t), Y'(t), Z(t)] during the recording is stored in terms of a frame of reference in which the space-time coordinates [(X.sub.r (t), Y.sub.r (t), Z.sub.r (t)] of the sensors are also recorded, after which the recorded seismic traces are processed as a function of the space-time coordinates of the point source of noise in order to eliminate said undesirable signal.