Deep-Towed High-Resolution Seismic System for Investigation of the Uppermost Subbotom Sediments at Shallow Waters

The most common technique of the offshore seismic surveying suggests that both seismic streamer and a source are towed at a depth of λ/4, where λ is dominated wave length in the exited wavelet. Normally, such an arrangement ensures meeting of the penetration and resolution requirements at any water depths. However, sometime it is needed to ensure high resolution (tens of cm) with relatively low penetration (10-15 m) at relatively deep water (tens of m). This situation is typical for inspection of sites for drilling platform construction, as well as for lithological, biological and environmental investigations, etc. <br>The proposed technique suggests that both the source and a streamer are deepened down to 10-15 m water depth, depending on the vessel speed. <br>This paper covers various aspects of deep-towed systems data aquisition, processing and interpretation. <br>