Random and systematic navigation errors: how do they affect seismic data quality?

While the effects of streamer feather on binning and stacking of seismic data have been studied in the past (Levin 1983, 1984), a quantitative analysis of the effects of an error in the measurement of the cable feather has not been made. Such a systematic error could be caused, for example, by incorrect assessment of magnetic declination and would result in an apparent rotation of the cable. Random errors in the receiver positions caused by the limited accuracy of the navigation measurements are always present, but hopefully small. Houston (1991) estimated the maximum uncertainty in cable receiver positions for a state-of-the-art navigation system to be about 6 m, which is close to the limits considered to be geophysically acceptable by some authors (e.g. Jack 1993 ).