A Full Wavefield Approach to Survey Planning

Towed streamer acquisition using typical 3D spreads can be problematic for shallow imaging due to strong acquisition footprints effects. These effects can be mitigated by imaging using separated wavefields whereby each receiver position acts as virtual source. We present a full-wavefield modeling and imaging workflow for de-risking of imaging application using separated wavefields in the survey planning phase of a marine seismic acquisition. Each of the applications share a modeling and migration step that considers only a few shots that can be duplicated to represent the migration response of a full 3D acquisition. The workflow allows us to estimate the depth range where separated wavefield imaging provides superior results over primary imaging in terms of sail line related footprint artefacts. We can further analyze the effect of cable separation on separated wavefield imaging and demonstrate how wavefield resampling mitigates these effects. Based on a horizontally layered model we can test and optimize survey geometries by analyzing migration footprint along plane reflectors and the resolution of fault features of various sizes in the image domain. Such analysis can be used to optimize sail line and cable separation to provide sufficient coverage to image the targets of interest as efficiently as possible.