Viscoelastic Finite-Difference Modeling of Shallow Seismic Data: Formation of Near-Surface Waveguides

Waveguides are formed in grossly layered media bounded by strong physical property contrasts. In ocean acoustics, the formation of shallow water waveguides is known to have a significant impact on wave propagation (Brekhovskikh and Lysanov, 1991). We suggest that similar waveguides may exist near the solid earth's surface and investigate the effects of such waveguides on high-resolution shallow seismic data.