Relative seismic receiver coupling estimation: a method using a probabilistic approach

This paper describes a new method called Relative seismic receiver coupling estimation (RCE), a probabilistic approach with ground noise as source signal. The significant benefit of the RCE method is the possibility to obtain a qualitative measurement of the amplitude and phase response of the frequency-band of interest prior to shooting or after installation of the receivers in the field. We derive the RCE function and present measurements with synthetic and field data to validate the usefulness of the method. The method extracts information about the relative ground coupling by comparing two receiver components, or one receiver against a spatially separated receiver to detect relative changes in the soil conditions. This method can also be used to evaluate faulty receiver response. The main advantage of this method is that the receiver response and relative coupling to the ground can be assessed without knowing the receiver transfer-function.