SOES6004 Data

acquisition and
geometry
What do wave kinematics
mean about the way that
we do an experiment?

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

 Data acquisition
To acquire data we need a source, some means of
detecting waves within the Earth, and a way of
recording the data.
Marine sources:
• Airguns, water guns, boomer and Chirp
• Normally detected at sea with a hydrophone although
they can also be detected with seismometers (eg in
an ocean bottom cable or on land nearby.)
Land sources:
• Large explosive charges (up to 5000kg is not unusual
for seismic refraction), smaller charges (5-10kg for
commercial reflection, 1kg for near surface work),
shotgun shells, hammer, to vibroseis (vertical or
shear).
• Usually recorded using geophones banged into the
ground surface.

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

Principles apply on many
scales

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

 Airgun
• Left end is reservoir, right end
mechanism
• Air expelled through annular ports

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

 Commercial seismic
boat
• Specialised for one thing
only…..

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

 3C ocean bottom cable
boat
• Even more specialised!

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

Common midpoint
gather

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

Several CMPs

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

Several shots

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

Single shot gather

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

 Experimental geometry
• We want Common Midpoint
gathers for processing, but they
are inefficient to collect
• By collecting many shots each
recorded at many receivers
simultaneously we can collect all
the traces that would be present
in multiple CMPs
• Sort it all out in a computer later!

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

 Stacking
Why do we stack?
• First, we increase the signal to noise ratio.
Suppose we have N traces with signal
amplitude A and random noise amplitude A
(ie signal to noise ratio 1). If we can align the
signal on the traces and then sum, the
amplitude of the signal will be NA but the
amplitude of random noise will be NxA, so
the new signal to noise ratio is  N.
• Second, it turns out that aligning the signal
as we look at traces recorded with different
source-receiver separations will give us
information about the Earth.
• This does assume we know what is signal
and what is noise

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

 Velocity estimation
• Because the normal moveout equation
includes velocity, we can use the intent
of the equation backwards to estimate
how velocity varies
• Apply nmo at a range of velocities and
see what is “corrected” (ie has the
same time after applying the equation at
all offsets)
• Aim to determine velocity as function of
time and position that gives best stack

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

Constant velocity panels

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry

Semblance analysis

SOES6004 acquisition and geometry