Viscoacoustic compensation in RTM using the pseudo-analytical extrapolator

We present a reverse-time migration algorithm whose extrapolator is based on an extension of the PseudoAnalytical (PA) method, to compensate for amplitude loss and dispersion due to propagation in viscoacoustic media. The PA method has the advantage of allowing coarse computational grids and large time stepping without loss of accuracy even after long propagations in time and space. In the extrapolator described here, we account for spatial variations in attenuation by using a series expansion approximation of the viscoacoustic equations for the homogeneous case. We demonstrate the accuracy of the approach using synthetic examples, and apply it to a dualsensor dataset from the North Sea using the inverse scattering imaging condition. We show how the resolution of the images is clearly improved after compensating for attenuation