Over/under towed‐streamer acquisition: A method to extend the seismic bandwidth to both, higher and lower frequencies

Abstract

Seismic resolution of towed marine streamer data is affected by the ghost reflections at the low end and at the high end of the spectrum. The ghost reflections occur at the source side and the receiver side and propagate from the sea surface to the hydrophones in the streamer, being part of the downgoing seismic wavefield. The Over/under towed‐streamer acquisition method allows the separation of the upgoing seismic wavefield from the downgoing seismic wavefield using a two‐hydrophone vertical receiver array. In this paper, we present an over/under towed‐streamer experiment performed in the Gulf of Mexico at the beginning of 2004. The results of this experiment demonstrate that the seismic bandwidth is extended and consistent with theoretical design.