PRESTACK INVERSION OF GROUP-FILTERED SEISMIC DATA

Three methods for least-squares inversion of receiver array-filtered seismic data are investigated: (1) point receiver inversion where array effects are neglected; (2) preprocessing of the data with an inverse array filter, followed by point receiver inversion; (3) array inversion, where the array effects are included in the forward modelling. The methods are tested on synthetic data generated using the acoustic wave equation and a horizontally stratified earth model. It is assumed that the group length and the group interval are identical. For arrays that are shorter than the minimum wavelength of the emitted wavefield, and when the data are appropriately muted, point receiver inversion (first method) gives satisfactory results. For longer arrays, array inversion (third method) should be used. The failure of the inverse array filter (second method) is due to aliasing problems in the data.