Wave equation receiver deghosting: a provocative example

Here, we discuss a technique based on the wave equation that accomplishes up/down wavefield separation based on a single measurement that does not rely on the spectral ghost model and does not rely on statistical or other means of estimating missing frequencies. While it is a distinct advantage to record multiple measurements, such systems are limited in availability and, moreover, significant legacy data exist that could benefit from deghosting. We briefly review the theory for wave equation receiver deghosting – first presented by Beasley et al., (2013) – and then present examples that confirm the accuracy of the approach. We illustrate a significant difference between this approach and many other approaches that use single measurements. Using the notch frequency in a mono-frequency plane wave example, we show that our approach accurately reconstructs the upgoing wavefield without benefit of information from other frequencies; a task that we expect would pose challenges to other single-measurement approaches.