Seismic anisotropy — Introduction

Abstract

Seismic anisotropy has evolved over the years from an esoteric, largely theoretical field to a key component in building robust subsurface models from seismic data (for a detailed historical overview, see Helbig and Thomsen, 2005). Transversely isotropic media with a vertical (VTI) and tilted (TTI) axis of symmetry have become standard in seismic imaging (Tsvankin et al., 2010), and many wide-azimuth surveys are currently processed with more complicated orthorhombic models. Azimuthally anisotropic seismic signatures provide the foundation for characterization of fractured reservoirs, and anisotropic models are increasingly used in full-waveform inversion, processing of microseismic data, and time-lapse seismic. Still, further development of anisotropic inversion and processing techniques faces a number of challenges, such as the need to estimate multiple medium parameters and high computational cost. Papers included in this special section were presented at the 17th International Workshop on Seismic Anisotropy (17IWSA) held at Horseshoe Bay, Texas, USA, on 18–23 September 2016. The 17IWSA continued the tradition of the worldwide seismic anisotropy community to gather approximately every two …