Seismic trace interpolation in the F-X domain

Abstract

Interpolation of seismic traces is an effective means of improving migration when the data set exhibits spatial aliasing. A major difficulty of standard interpolation methods is that they depend on the degree of reliability with which the various geological events can be separated. In this respect, a multichannel interpolation method is described which requires neither a priori knowledge of the directions of lateral coherence of the events, nor estimation of these directions. The method is based on the fact that linear events present in a section made of equally spaced traces may be interpolated exactly, regardless of the original spatial interval, without any attempt to determine their true dips. The predictability of linear events in the f-x domain allows the missing traces to be expressed as the output of a linear system, the input of which consists of the recorded traces. The interpolation operator is obtained by solving a set of linear equations whose coefficients depend only on the spectrum of the spatial prediction filter defined by the recorded traces. Synthetic examples show that this method is insensitive to random noise and that it correctly handles curvatures and lateral amplitude variations. Assessment of the method with a real data set shows that the interpolation yields an improved migrated section.