Multiple subtraction using an expanded multichannel matching filter

Abstract

An expanded multichannel matching (EMCM) filter is proposed for the adaptive subtraction in seismic multiple attenuation. For a normal multichannel matching filter where an original seismic trace is matched by a group of multiple‐model traces, the lateral coherency of adjacent traces is likely to be exploited to discriminate the overlapped multiple and primary reflections. In the proposed EMCM filter, a seismic trace is matched by not only a group of the ordinary multiple‐model traces but also their adjoints generated mathematically. The adjoints of a multiple‐model trace include its first derivative, its Hilbert transform, and the derivative of the Hilbert transform. The convolutional coefficients associated with the normal multichannel filter can be represented as a 2D operator in the time‐space domain. This 2D operator is expanded with an additional spatial dimension in the EMCM filter to improve the robustness of the adaptive subtraction. The multiple‐model traces are generated using moveout equations to afford efficiency in the multiple attenuation application.