The application of a homemade boomer source in offshore seismic survey: From field data acquisition to post-processing

Abstract

This work presents a case study about applying a homemade boomer source working with a well-designed field geometry in an offshore seismic survey. Some measurements were carried out to calibrate the boomer source acoustic characteristics in an anechoic tank. Then a catamaran, taking account of the boomer source signature, is designed to control the source depth and entirely use ghosts as part of the source wavelet. This way, the vertical resolution is sacrificed to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the source wavelet meets the minimum phase characteristics. Furthermore, the detailed analytical results of the calibrated source wavelets also provide a reliable basis for determining post-processing parameters. Two surveys have been conducted on the same line using this source in combination with two different hydrophone streamers. Some valuable experiences in field data acquisition and post-processing are analyzed and summarized. The most important one is taking the ghost part of the source wavelet by controlling source depth. This work is a reliable reference to other research on improving the quality of seismic imaging of offshore shallow strata.