Deblending using periodic time delays for hexasource variable depth streamer data

Summary Conventional deblending using random time delays has been the most popular technique in marine simultaneous source acquisition and processing for some time. Signal apparition using periodic time delays has recently emerged as an attractive alternative to conventional deblending. In this new technique, periodic modulation times are used to encode multiple sources during the acquisition of simultaneous source data. These data can later be decoded using the known modulation times to separate the simultaneous sources into the individual sources. This method has the potential to increase the density of seismic sources, which can improve subsurface sampling and reduce the acquisition time. In this paper, we present a new source separation method for seismic data encoded with periodic time delays and use it to process hexasource variable depth streamer data from the Utsira region in the North Sea. A comparison of our new method with a conventional deblending solution indicates similar separation quality.