Utilizing Surface Distributed Acoustic Sensing (S-DAS) for PP and PS Imaging: A North Sea Case Study

Surface distributed acoustic sensing (S-DAS) is an emerging technology, which uses horizontally deployed fiber optic (FO) cables on the seabed, or onshore, to record seismic data. When existing telecommunication cables are used, the acquisition of such data becomes very cost effective as it does not require either a seismic streamer vessel or a node handling vessel to deploy receivers.

S-DAS imaging can provide valuable information about the subsurface and can be used for screening and monitoring campaigns, including those for carbon capture and sequestration. The ability to produce pressure (PP) as well as converted wave (PS) images enables the separation of fluid and pressure effects, while being a cost-effective acquisition technique. This should be considered a significant benefit compared to PP-only towed streamer (TS) and the more expensive ocean-bottom node (OBN) surveys.

In this paper we demonstrate the processing results of S-DAS data from the North Sea for joint PP and PS imaging. We discuss the main challenges specific to FO recordings and present proposed solutions focusing on shear noise suppression, wavefield separation, and PP and PS imaging.