Seismic image reconstruction using complex wavelets

The aim of seismic imaging is to reconstruct subsurface reflectivity from scattered acoustic data. In standard reconstruction techniques, the reflectivity model parameters are usually defined as a grid of point scatterers over the area or volume of the subsurface to be imaged. We propose an approach to subsurface imaging using the Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DT-CWT) as a basis for the reflectivity. This basis is used in conjunction with an iterative optimization which frames the problem as a linearized inverse scattering problem. We demonstrate the method on synthetic data and a marine seismic data set acquired over the Gippsland Basin near Australia. The technique is shown to reduce noise and processing artifacts while preserving discontinuities. It is likely to be particularly useful in cases where the acquired date is incomplete