Adaptive waveform inversion: theory

Conventional full-waveform seismic inversion attempts to find a model of the subsurface that is able to predict observed seismic waveforms exactly; it proceeds by minimizing the difference between the observed and predicted data directly, iterating in a series of linearized steps from an assumed starting model. If this starting model is too far removed from the true model, then this approach leads to a spurious model in which the predicted data are cycle skipped with respect to the observed data. Adaptive waveform inversion (AWI) provides a new form of full-waveform inversion (FWI) that appears to be immune to the problems otherwise generated by cycle skipping. In this method, least-squares convolutional filters are designed that transform the predicted data into the observed data. The inversion problem is formulated such that the subsurface model is iteratively updated to force these Wiener filters toward zero-lag delta functions. As that is achieved, the predicted data evolve toward the observed data and the assumed model evolves toward the true model. This new method is able to invert synthetic data successfully, beginning from starting models and under conditions for which conventional FWI fails entirely. AWI has a similar computational cost to conventional FWI per iteration, and it appears to converge at a similar rate. The principal advantages of this new method are that it allows waveform inversion to begin from less-accurate starting models, does not require the presence of low frequencies in the field data, and appears to provide a better balance between the influence of refracted and reflected arrivals upon the final-velocity model. The AWI is also able to invert successfully when the assumed source wavelet is severely in error