Depth-Domain Inversion for Enhanced Quantitative Interpretation

Summary Least-squares migration can help mitigate non-geological amplitude variations caused by uneven illumination. In this paper, we apply least-squares migration in the image domain to recover acoustic or elastic properties. Dipdependent illumination and wavelet stretch effects are captured using point spread functions (PSFs) and mitigated through inversion in the image domain. The inversion is parameterized and constrained in terms of acoustic or elastic earth properties. We show how this approach, also referred to as depth-domain inversion, can efficiently account for illumination variations induced by different geological and acquisition settings, leading to higherresolution and more reliable earth property estimates. We also show how the approach can be used to reconcile seismic vintages associated with different acquisition geometries for time-lapse analysis.