Enhanced Resolution–Imaging and Interpretability Resulting from Dual–sensor Towed Streamer Acquisition

Every reflection wavelet recorded by a marine streamer is accompanied by a ‘ghost’ reflection from the sea surface. If both the seismic pressure wavefield and the vertical component of the particle velocity can be acquired using co-located pressure and velocity sensors, it is then possible to combine these datasets to produce a seismic image with the receiver ghost removed. The dual-sensor streamer has been developed to record both of these desired seismic wavefields and enable extraction of the up-going and down-going pressure and velocity wavefields. The up-going pressure wavefield represents the de-ghosted pressure result. The dual-sensor streamer architecture uses densely sampled co-located pressure and velocity sensors housed in a low-noise ruggedized solid streamer to deliver de-ghosted data in one pass, using one streamer depth. Deep streamer towing facilitated by the technology increases the operational weather window, reduces noise, and increases signal penetration. The de-ghosted seismic data exhibit greater frequency bandwidth and greater signal-to-noise ratio. The dual-sensor streamer enhances resolution and imaging of the subsurface and through more responsive data processing and improved seismic inversion, contributes to a better understanding and interpretability of any asset.