Source And Receiver Amplitude Equalization Using Reciprocity - Application to Land Seismic Data

Source and receiver amplitude equalization is necessary when their behavior changes with location within a given survey. Preferably, these corrections are performed in the early stages of processing. However, existing techniques which account for these effects, such as surface-consistent deconvolution, are applicable to primary reflection data only. Therefore, these techniques require prior processing. We developed an alternative method to compensate for source and receiver perturbations which has the advantage of being purely a preprocessing step. It is applicable to the whole seismic trace, and no assumptions are imposed on the subsurface. The method is based on reciprocity of the medium response. As a result of reciprocity, differences between normal and reciprocal recordings can be attributed to the source and receiver perturbations. We applied this technique to single-sensor data acquired in Manistee County, Michigan. At this site, near-surface conditions vary, and this significantly affects the data quality. The application of the equalization procedure led to a significant improvement in signal-to-noise ratio, on both prestack and poststack data.