Attenuating scattered surface wave: two faces of interferometry

Surface wave interferometry is the process of estimating inter-receiver surface waves by cross-correlation, cross-convolution or deconvolution of wavefields recorded at each receiver. We study seismic interferometry of scattered surface waves in attenuating media. One of the starting assumptions for interferometry by correlation is that the medium of interest is lossless, however the near surface of the Earth is often strongly attenuating. On the other hand interferometry by convolution makes no assumptions about medium losses. By investigating both correlation-type and convolution-type interferometry we identify how to successfully approach the problem of estimating inter-receiver scattered waves, and illustrate our findings using real and synthetic examples. Such estimates have applications in the attenuation of scattered ground roll and in near surface imaging and characterization.