Robust inversion of vertical electrical sounding data using a multiple reweighted least‐squares method

Abstract

The root cause of the instability problem of the least‐squares (LS) solution of the resistivity inverse problem is the ill‐conditioning of the sensitivity matrix. To circumvent this problem a new LS approach has been investigated in this paper. At each iteration, the sensitivity matrix is weighted in multiple ways generating a set of systems of linear equations. By solving each system, several candidate models are obtained. As a consequence, the space of models is explored in a more extensive and effective way resulting in a more robust and stable LS approach to solving the resistivity inverse problem. This new approach is called the multiple reweighted LS method (MRLS). The problems encountered when using the L1‐ or L2‐norm are discussed and the advantages of working with the MRLS method are highlighted. A five‐layer earth model which generates an ill‐conditioned matrix due to equivalence is used to generate a synthetic data set for the Schlumberger configuration. The data are randomly corrupted by noise and then inverted by using L2, L1 and the MRLS algorithm. The stabilized solutions, even though blurred, could only be obtained by using a heavy ridge regression parameter in L2‐ and L1‐norms. On the other hand, the MRLS solution is stable without regression factors and is superior and clearer. For a better appraisal the same initial model was used in all cases. The MRLS algorithm is also demonstrated for a field data set: a stable solution is obtained.