A history of seismic acquisition design in Saudi Arabia - lessons learned

In Saudi Arabia, the vibroseis signal is commonly low and both ambient and source-generated<br>noise is high. Acquisition methods along with processing must be used to enhance the signal<br>and suppress the noise. Over time with advances in the number of available recording<br>channels and in high efficiency surface sources, particularly vibroseis, we have moved from<br>large mega-arrays to smaller arrays and toward point source and point receiver acquisition. At<br>the same time, less array summing of individual sources and receivers is done in the field, and<br>more noise mitigation is done in processing. The balance between improved signal-to-noise<br>data quality, productivity and cost is a recurring theme and continues even today. In the<br>1990s, we introduced universal fine sampling or “uncommitted” acquisition for 2D data. But<br>even today, unsummed point source and receiver survey designs cannot affordably be<br>acquired in 3D, with sufficient density to adequately handle both the signal and noise<br>challenges.