Imaging the Subsurface Using Acoustic Signals Generated by a Vessel

Abstract

The acoustic wavefield originating from a vessel has historically not been considered as a source of signal in the imaging of marine seismic data and is therefore treated as a source of noise. In this work, the feasibility of acquiring seismic data without an active source and instead using the acoustic wavefield generated by a vessel for imaging the subsurface has been investigated. There are areas around the world where the use of active marine seismic sources is not permitted throughout the year, or only permitted during short time periods. In such areas, acquiring seismic data using the acoustic signals generated by a vessel as a source may be an alternative. Using a vessel as a seismic source may also offer a low cost and low impact 4D monitoring solution with an opportunity for much more frequent acquisition of time lapse data especially over permanent receiver installations. This work demonstrates that it is possible to obtain very high-resolution seismic images of the shallow subsurface by using acoustic signals generated by a vessel. This outcome is due to the broadband signals that the vessel generates combined with the fact that these signals are generated continuously while the vessel is moving, allowing for extremely dense source-side sampling along the vessel path.