f A Robust optimisation strategy for parametric inversion of seismic data

Standard seismic processing provides an image of the subsurface which is band-limited. Although the migrated stack is an important tool for structural evaluation, limited resolution creates difficulties in its use for small scale stratigraphic interpretation. Resolution is conventionally defined in terms of Rayleigh's criterion, requiring that two equal amplitude pulses are separated sufficiently to have their centres coincident with the others' first sidelobes of opposing sign. However, it has been noted by many authors (Kallweit and Wood,1982; van Riel and Berkhout, 1985) that the actual discrimination is much better, provided there are known to be a small number of reflectors in the model when compared with the number of data samples.