Extinction theorem deghosting method using towed streamer pressure data: analysis of the receiver array effect on deghosting and subsequent free surface multiple removal

Abstract

In seismic exploration, acquiring full surface coverage with point receiver data is generally consistent with wave theoretic processing requirements. It is important to characterize the receiver array effect on any wave theory based seismic processing method. Deghosting is a prerequisite for free surface multiple removal (FSMR), internal multiple attenuation/elimination, and the imaging and inversion of primaries. The effectiveness of deghosting directly affects the performance of these methods. We propose a new method for deghosting towed streamer data that modifies and extends the Weglein et al. (2002) algorithm and make use of the wavelet method presented by Guo et al. (2005). We test the method for a simple 1D acoustic model and conclude that very accurate deghosting results can be obtained when using point receiver data. Useful but less accurate results can also be obtained when using receiver array data.