ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING OF WIDE-APERTURE GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR DATA

A 40-channel wide-aperture ground penetrating radar (GPR) data set was recorded in a complicated fluvial/aeolian environment in eastern Canada. The data were collected in the multichannel format usually associated with seismic reflection surveys and were input directly into a standard seismic processing sequence filtering, static corrections, common-midpoint gathering, velocity analysis, normal- and dip-moveout corrections, stacking and depth migration). The results show significant improvements, over single-channel recordings, in noise reduction and depth of penetration (by stacking), and in spatial positioning and reduction of diffraction artifacts (by migration). These characteristics increase the potential for reliable interpretation of structural and stratigraphic details. Thus, without having to develop any new software, GPR data processing technology is brought to the same level of capability, flexibility, and accessibility that is current in seismic exploration.