Asymptotically linear velocity analysis with high resolution in time domain

Abstract

A new method of velocity analysis based on the joint use of a linear velocity analysis technique and a nonlinear penalty function is described. The penalty function is defined as a monotonic continuous function of the signal‐to‐noise ratio estimate, tending to a constant or to zero with this estimate converging respectively to infinity or to zero. The signal‐to‐noise ratio estimate is obtained as the ratio of the estimates of the energy of the signal with given velocity and the energy of the residual field. The resulting velocity analysis technique is characterized by higher noise suppression and higher resolution in the velocity and the time domain compared to the semblance based velocity analysis or the velocity analysis based on the slant stacking of input data.