Validation of an Alternative Seismic Source: The Integrated Projector Node Marine Vibrator Pilot Seismic Survey.

Abstract

Summary The Marine Vibrator Joint Industry Project (MVJIP) successfully completed a pilot test using an array of two marine vibrators (known as the Integrated Projector Node (IPN)) designed and fabricated by General Dynamics Applied Physical Sciences (APS). The pilot was conducted in open water in September – October 2022. The array was tested both in static and dynamic towing mode over a 2D line of 150 ocean bottom nodes. The marine vibrator performance was benchmarked against an equivalent sized air gun source. Several different lines were shot to address other key processing topics specific to marine vibrators such as source motion, blending, phase encoding, different sweep types etc. Overall, the pilot test was an operational and technical success with no HSE incidents recorded whilst proving the feasibility of using IPNs as a reliable and repeatable marine seismic source. A fast-track processing of the data was performed to produce raw PSTM migrated images. Initial results confirm that these marine vibrators are effective sources for imaging the subsurface.