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org/

Wavelet estimation for surface multiple attenuation using a simulated

annealing algorithm
Paulo M. Carvalho, Petrobras, Brazil; and Arthur B. Weglein*, Schlumberger

SP2.4

Cambridge Research, UK
THE SURFACE MULTIPLE ATTENUATION METHOD

SUMMARY

The surface multiple attenuation method may be written

in the following form (see, for example, Carvalho, 1992):
D = D, + + . . . +

The inverse scattering surface multiple attenuation

method (Carvalho et. al., 1991 and Carvalho, 1992) requires
knowledge of the source wavelet. The method itself provides
a way to estimate the wavelet. The estimation process uses
an optimization algorithm. A global search procedure, based
on simulated annealing, is used to perform the optimization.
Simulated annealing has a random component that allows it
to search for the global minimun of a function containing
many local minima. In this work, the surface multiple
attenuation method and the wavelet estimation procedure are
described and illustrated with synthetic and real data
examples. Encouraging resu Its were obtained that
demonstrate the robustness of the process under real data
conditions.

with
D,(m) = O(w)

=2

(2)
where the data without surface multiples, is obtained by
the sum of a series of terms,
1 being the highest order
multiple existing in the input data. For example, the series
with five terms is free of all multiples from first to fourth
order. is just the pre-stack seismic data with source and
receiver array and ghost effects removed. The higher order
terms remove the multiples, order by order. They are
obtained by the recursive equation (2).
and
are
two-dimensional matrices corresponding to frequency slices
of three-dimensional data cubes where the other two
dimensions correspond to the positions of the source and the
receiver of each particular trace. 0 is a matrix operator
obtained from D1 by applying a frequency dependent obliquity
factor, an extrapolation from the depths of sources and
receivers to the free surface datum and the wavelet
deconvolution. In certain applications, when dealing with
small to moderate angles of propagation, which roughly
corresponds to short offsets compared to depth of reflectors,
angle dependent effects such as the removal of array and
ghost efects from and the obliquity factor applied to 0 may
be neglected. In this case the extrapolation should not be
applied to the operator 0. Since is the input data with no
modification, 0 is just the deconvolved version of When
the obliquity and other factors are neglected the wavelet to
be used in the deconvolution is an effective wavelet
containing the frequency dependence of these factors.

INTRODUCTION
The inverse scattering series aproach to surface
multiple attenuation does not rely on periodicity or differential
moveout, nor does it require a model of subsurface structure
or velocities. However, the effectiveness of this approach
depends on the satisfaction of certain prerequisites, for
example, an estimated source wavelet, compensation for
missing near traces, and source and receiver deghosting.
Experience indicates that estimating the source wavelet is a
particularly important precondition. This experience has been
shared by others, e.g., Verschuur et al. (1988), Fokkema and
Van den Berg (1990) and Dragoset (1992), using similar or
closely related surface multiple attenuation methods.
The idea is to use the sensitivity of the multiple
attenuation method to source signature to turn the situation
around, that is, when the multiples have been attenuated the
wavelet has been well estimated. A criteria is needed to
judge when multiple suppression is working. The criteria is
based on the assumption that when multiples are removed
from the data, there is less energy than when multiples are
present. Verschuur et. al. (1989) first introduced this criteria
in association with their surface multiple suppression
rnethod. In their work, a gradient aproach was used to search
for the minimum of energy. In this work the same criteria,
that is, object function, is used, but instead of the gradient
approach, a simulated annealing
algorithm (Kirkpatric
et. al., 1983) is used to search for the global minimum.

The problem of the wavelet arises in the series of

equation (1) when one does not matte the deconvolution or
does it with a wrong wavelet. In this case Dn will have the
wavelet, or a residual wavelet, to the
power and the
multiple attenuation that should result from the sum of the
terms will fail.
WAVELET ESTIMATION AND SIMULATED ANNEALING
Here we will describe both the use of the SA method,
and the complete strategy for wavelet estimation.

SA is an optimization method that has the ability to

search for the global minimum of a function in the presence
of many local minima. It derives its name from an analogy
with the thermodynamic process of liquid crystallization. A
parameter called temperature, together with a cooling
schedule, guides the search in the model space. In
thermodynamics, slow cooling leads to a low energy final
state and a well formed crystal which, in the analogy, means
the global minimum; quick cooling leads to a high energy
final state and a disordered polycrystalline solid which
corresponds to a local minimum. There is no theoretical
guaranty that this process leads to the optimal solution but it
has experienced success in different applications. In seismic
processing the first use of SA was made by Rothman (1986)
for the problem of residual statics. Sen and Stoffa (1991)
applied it for inverting elastic parameters from seismic data.

The process requires an initial estimate for the wavelet

which can be obtained by smoothing and averaging the
amplitude spectra of selected traces. The initial phase can be
made equal to zero. Any other reasonable first guess may
be used, but it is important that the bandwidth matches
aproximately with the one of the actual wavelet. This first
guess is used in the deconvolution that generates the
operator 0, so that the estimation process accomodates a
residual wavelet.
Another crucial point is the problem of the scale factor
that is always present in real data. This factor may be very
significant and it propagates in powers throughout the terms
of the series. The estimation process is divided into two
major steps, both using SA algorithm for optimization and
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Wavelet estimation for multiple attenuation

performed in the frequency domain. In the first step the
optimization is applied to three parameters: one is the
amplitude scale factor and the other two are a time shift and
a phase rotation. Remembering that an amplitude spectrum
has already been given to the operator 0, the first step is then
complete and a rough version of the final wavelet is available.
The second step refines this estimation by allowing the
amplitude and the phase spectra to vary more freely, but
constrained by the first estimate. In this step a user supplied
number of frequencies are used to parametrize both spectra.

Figures 6.a and 6.b show the energy of the data at each
temperature level for the first and second steps of the
optimization process, respectively. In the first steps 45 levels
were used with 45 moves per level. The best wavelet was
found in the last level although a reasonably stable state was
reached after level 33. In the second step 140 temperature
levels were used with 140 moves per level. The best estimate
corresponds to level 128 but a stable state was reached
around level 65. The need for more levels with more moves
in the second step is due to the fact that in this case there are
more parameters to be optmized so there are more points in
the parameter space to be visited. Also, since the second
step is the final one, it is pushed toward lower levels of
temperature to assure that the estimate goes as close as
possible to the optimal point.
Figure 7 shows a shot from marine real data and Figure
8 shows the same shot after the final step of the wavelet
estimation. Figure 9 shows the amplitude spectrum of the
best wavelet. The phase spectrum was again estimated as a
straight line in both steps leading to a final time shift of 3.4
ms and a phase rotation of 233.8 degrees. Figure 10 shows
the wavelet. It should be mentioned that it still has the efects
of source and receiver ghosts plus a 90 degrees phase
rotation that should be corrected together with the application
of the obliquity factor. In this real data example no angle
dependent correction was applied. All of the variables that
control the optimization process such as initial temperatures,
decay rates and number of temperature levels, were the
same in both examples.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSSIONS

The first example is from a synthetic data set. Figure 1

has two primary reflections and its surface related multiples.
Figure 2.a shows the result of the method after the first step
in which the scale factor was applied to the smoothed and
averaged amplitude spectrum of the input data and the
corresponding time shift and phase rotation applied to the
phase spectrum. Figure 2.b shows the result after the second
step in which the amplitude and the phase spectra estimation
were refined. All seismograms have the same variable gain
applied. Figure 3 shows the amplitude spectra after both
steps and of the exact wavelet. Figure 4 is the same but for
the phase spectra and Figure 5 shows the wavelets in the
time domain.
The exact wavelet is a Gabor signal -- a cosine function
with side lobes attenuated -- with a dominant frequency of 40
Hz. Its phase spectrum has a linear component
corresponding to a 8 ms time shift plus a constant factor
corresponding to 90 degrees of phase rotation. There is also
a scale factor of the order of IO? The previous figures show
that the spectral average provides a reasonable first guess.
After the first step of the estimation the wavelets roughly
match and the multiple attenuation is reasonable. The scale
factor found was 972, the time shift 7.5 ms and the phase
rotation 99.7 degrees. After the second step an improvement
achieved in the wavelet estimation resulted in improved
multiple attenuation. In this step the amplitude spectrum was
allowed to vary freely from the first step estimation to a shape
closer to the exact one. A parametrization of 20 frequencies
equally spaced was used for the amplitude. The phase
spectrum was parametrized in the same way used in the first
step and a 7.6 ms time shift plus a 97.4 degrees of constant
phase was found.

The synthetic data example shows that although

providing a successful multiple attenuation the estimated
wavelet does not exactly match the true one. This fact may
be explained by one or a combination of the following causes.
The first one is that the process has ended at a local
minimum, close to the global minimum. Another explanation
is that it has stopped at the same region of the global
minimum but slightly displaced from it; in this case a gradient
method could bring the estimation to the minimum. A third
possibility is that the optimization had no understanding to
search for lower energy states either due to numerical
problems when computing the summation or because of
noise that was introduced in the process.
The real data example shows a relativelly good result,
the multiple energy being strongly reduced. The application
of the multiple attenuation method to real data raises some
problems that can be only approximately solved and that can
explain, at least in part, why the multiples were not
completely attenuated. First there is the need to fill with
traces the gap from the nearest trace in the data to zero
offset. This was done by applying NMOcorrection to near
traces, then repeating them and applying inverse NMO with
their new offsets. Another problem is that the method
requires 2D structures and the line to be shot along the dip
direction. Deviations from this geometry causes incorrect
prediction of the multiples. The amplitude of the data should
also correspond to 2D geometrical s reading. This was
aproximately corrected by applying a
factor to the input
data where t is the time of the sample. It should also be
mentioned that none of the angle dependent corrections
described before were applied to the data.
As an overall conclusion it can be said that the use of a
SA algorithm in the wavelet estimation process for surface
multiple attenuation is feasible and provides good results.
The method is particulary effective for finding the scale factor
in the data even when it is very large. It should be mentioned
here that earlier attempts with gradient optimization methods
failed in this case. The use of a gradient method associated
with SA is a point to be studied and may improve the final
estimation.
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Wavelet estimation for multiple attenuation

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ACKNOWlEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge Petrobras and
Schlumberger for support and permission to publish this
work.
REFERENCES
Carvalho, P.M, Weglein, A.B., and Stolt, R.H, 1991, Examples
of a nonlinear inversion method based on the T matrix of
scattering theory: Application to multiple suppression: 61st
Ann. Internat. Mtg., Soc. Expl. Geophys., Expanded abstracts.
Carvalho, P.M., 1992, Metodo de
de
relacionadas corn a superficie livre
em
linear de dados sismicos: Tese de doutorado,
Universidade Federal da Bahia.
Dragoset, W.H., 1992, Surface multiple attenuation: Thecnical
report, Western Geophysical.
Fokkema, J.T., and Van den Berg, P.M., 1990, Removal of
surface-related wave phenomena: the marine case: 60th Ann.
Internat. Mtg., Soc. Expl. Geophys., Expanded abstracts.
Kirkpatric, S., Gelatt, C.D., Jr., and Vecchi, M.P., 1983,
Optimization by simullated annealing: Science, 220, 671-680.
Rothman, D.H., 1986, Automatic estimation of large residual
statics correction: Geophysics, 51, 332-346.
Sen, M.K., Stoffa, P.L., 1991, Nonlinear one-dimensional
seismic waveform inversion using simulated annealing:
Geophysics, 56, 1624-I 638.
Verschuur, D.J., Herrmann, P., Kinneging, N.A., Wapenaar,
C.P.A., and Berkhout, A.J., 1988, Elimination of surface related
multiple reflected and converted waves: 58th Ann. Internat.
Mtg., Soc. Expl. Geophys., Expanded abstracts.

125
0
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 3: Amp litude spectra of the wave ets after the first
step (dashed line) and the second step (( otted line) of the
estimation process was applied to data from Figure 1, shown
togheter with the exact spectrum (solid line).

Verschuur, D.J., Berkhout, A.J., and Wapenaar, C.P.A., 1989,

Wavelet estimation by prestack multiple elimination: 59th
Ann. Internat. Mtg., Soc. Expl. Geophys., Expanded abstracts.

125
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 4: Phase spectra corresponding to the amplitude
spectra shown in Figure 3.

Figure 1: Seismogram of synthetic data containing two

primaries reflections and its surface related multiples.

Figure 5: The wavelets corresponding to the spectra shown

on Figures 3 and 4.
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Wavelet estimation for multiple attenuation

Figure 6: Energy of the data computed during the wavelet

estimation process at each temperature level: (a) for the first
step and (5) for the second step.

Figure 8: Seismogram showing the result of the multiple

attenuation method applied to the data of Figure 7 with the
wavelet estimated after the two steps of the process.

Figure 9: Amplitude spectrum of the wavelet used to obtain

the result shown in Figure 8.

Figure 1O: Wavelet corresponding to the amplitude spectrum

shown in Figure 9 and linear phase components described in
the text.

Figure 7: Seismogram of a shot from real marine data.

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