Resolution Analysis of Seismic Imaging

We define and formulate the resolution of an imaging system based on the inverse theory and local angle domain decomposition of Green’s functions. The resolution defined in this way includes both the effects of acquisition system and imaging (migration) process. The theory and method are based on wave theory and no asymptotic approximation is made in the calculation. It represents and quantifies the actual resolution we observed in the migrated images. The resolution taking into account only the influence of the acquisition system (frequency band and spatial aperture) and neglecting the factors such as the errors in backpropagation (migration) can be considered as the resolution limit of the system, the best resolution an acquisition system can get. Theoretical analysis and numerical examples are given to show the importance of propagator accuracy in the evaluation of resolution in complex media.