7/7/23, 8:26 AM
Measuring source signatures
Knowledgebase
Drop-outs (/help/dropouts)
Filtering (/help/filtering)
File formats (/help/formats)
Notional Sources
(/help/notionals)
Optimisation
(/help/optimise)
Signature Stats
(/help/sigstat)
Alternative Sources
(/help/alternative)
Help
Quick Designer
(/help/demo-d)
Quick Optimiser
(/help/demo-o)
Toolset reference
(/help/toolset)
FAQ (/help/faq)
Useful links (/help/links)
Audiograms
(/help/audiogram)
Physics (/help/physics)
Units (/help/units)
Calibration (/help/calib)
Version History
(/help/version-history)
https://cloud.gundalf.com/help/sigstat
Gundalf Cloud Modelling Service | sigstat
Introduction
Measurement examples
Introduction
Signature measurement
Marine seismic source signatures have historically been measured in very simple ways, usually involving two param
of which are strongly dependent on the bandwidth in which the signature is measured so any values quoted without
are essentially meaningless. The two parameters are:-
Amplitude
This is a simple measurement of the strength of the source. It can be measured close up or far away as follows.
Far-field signature. This is by the most common form. It is a measure of the signature a long way from the s
vertically underneath but with the amplitude referred back to 1m from the source. In other words, the units us
measure this are bar-m. The far-field signature always includes the effects of the ghost reflection.
Near-field signature. This is a measure of the amplitude of the source at some fixed position close by the so
1m. away from it. For multiple guns it is usually measured from the geometric centre a little underneath the so
natural units for this are bars. If the measurement is close to the source, the ghost reflection is usually much
the direct arrival because of geometric spreading. (The direct arrival might travel 1m but the ghost travels ma
the gun or array is deployed at 6m depth). A single near-field recording of a whole array is difficult to relate to
useful so far-field signatures are by far the most common for arrays. Near or far-field signatures might be give
gun or a cluster.)
Amplitude is often used as a measure of penetration of an array but this is a rather unsophisticated viewpoint. Diffe
frequencies travel very different distances in the earth due to Q-filtering so penetration is a much more complex que
quite possible that seismic arrays are sometimes too strong for their stated goals. Deep penetration in the earth, pa
places where considerable absorption takes place (low Q) such as basalt, requires an abundance of low frequencie
achieved with airgun arrays by deploying them more deeply.
Primary to bubble ratio
Primary to bubble ratio is related to deconvolvability. The bubble is an artifact in that the ideal source is a spike. Mu
been expended over the years into reducing the bubble relative to the peak to approach the idealised spike more cl
However, this again has probably attracted more attention than it need as Wiener deconvolution is often highly capa
compressing the signature provided the primary to bubble is relatively modest, (anything above about 5 in the seism
works very well).
It should be noted that measuring the primary to bubble ratio is sometimes not so simple. A fundamental requireme
measuring this parameter is to identify where the bubble starts. Gundalf will start searching from 40 msec after the
although this default can be changed. Sometimes, this defeats any automated algorithm, particularly if signatures a
bandwidth and it may be necessary to judge the start time by eye.
The best way to do this is to start by trying to identify the bubble start in the UNfiltered signature. Filtering interferes
identification in all kinds of subtle ways. With airgun arrays, the bubble is usually anywhere between about 80-140 m
initial peak. For most reasonably designed airgun arrays, it is easy to identify in the unfiltered case and will consist o
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peak followed by a small trough. This mirrors the main signature which starts with a large peak followed by the large ghost
trough. If you can't identify it, this is simply telling you that it is not well-defined.

Assuming you can identify it, measure the time delay from the main peak to the bubble peak and back off a little. Then specify
this as the time when Gundalf should start looking for the bubble.
Knowledgebase
The important thing is to use the same time delay for the filtered versions of the signature. This has a much better chance of
producing a stable bubble identification
Drop-outs and therefore a stable primary to bubble ratio.
(/help/dropouts)

Without this process, it is easy to get very variable estimates of primary to bubble. This is not a deficiency in Gundalf. It merely
Filtering (/help/filtering)
reflects the fact that primary to bubble can be an elusive parameter in modern airgun arrays with digital filtering because the
bubble is normally suppressed so well.
File formats (/help/formats)

It should finally be noted that primary to bubble itself can be calculated in two ways even when the bubble start has been
Notional Sources
correctly identified.
(/help/notionals)
Peak to peak. If the peak and ghost trough are both well-developed with the ghost near the ideal value of -1, using the
peak to peakOptimisation
values for both the primary and the bubble gives a better estimate.
(/help/optimise)
Zero to peak. For a shallow source, the ghost may not be well developed due to anelastic behaviour at the surface. In this
case, it may be more appropriate to use the zero to peak values for both primary and bubble to give a more robust
Signature Stats
estimate. This is also true with near-field measurements.
(/help/sigstat)

Amplitude spectral measurement

Alternative Sources

(/help/alternative)
Amplitude spectral measurements are also quoted but not often. These may include some measure of the size of the ripples in

some restricted bandwidth, say 15-70Hz. They may also include the bandwidth within 3 or 6db down from the spectral maximum.

Help
Measurement examples
Quick Designer
(/help/demo-d)

Quick Optimiser
(/help/demo-o)

Toolset reference
Illustrating signature statistics,
(/help/toolset)
6/18-128/72 Hz.

FAQ (/help/faq)

Useful links (/help/links)

Audiograms

(/help/audiogram)

Physics (/help/physics)

Units (/help/units)

Calibration (/help/calib)

Illustrating amplitude statistics,

Version History
6/18-128/72 Hz.
(/help/version-history)

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