A New Pseudo-acoustic Wave Equation for VTI Media

SUMMARY We propose a new approximate partial differential equation for qP-waves in transverse isotropy with a vertical symmetry axis (VTI) media. We analyse its relationship to two other published "pseudo-acoustic" VTI equations. All three pseudo-acoustic VTI wave equations are coupled systems of second-order PDEs in time, derived from the same dispersion relation for qP waves by introducing different auxiliary functions. The new method combines efficient implementation and low artifacts. Modeling and reversetime migration are shown to validate the wave equation.