Waveform inversion for shallow velocity recovery

We demonstrate the effectiveness of frequency-domain waveform inversion for shallow velocity recovery in a number of geologic settings around the world. Waveform inversion uses the entire wavefield, including direct-arrival information, in order to achieve high resolution, and we find it remains stable in areas historically known to have difficulty with coherent noise such as multiples. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique in offshore Trinidad, offshore Pacific Asia, and the Caspian Sea.