Virtual Sources and Receivers in the Real Earth: Considerations for Practical Applications

• Published in: Journal of geophysical research. Solid earth 2019-11, Vol.124 (11), p.11802-11821
• Main Authors: Brackenhoff, Joeri, Thorbecke, Jan, Wapenaar, Kees
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Data; Earth; Earth surface; Geophysics; Green's function; Green's functions; homogeneous Green's function retrieval; Localization; Marchenko; Receivers; Recording; Reflection; Retrieval; Seismic surveys; virtual sources and receivers
• ISSN: 2169-9313; 2169-9356
• DOI: 10.1029/2019JB018485

To enhance monitoring of the subsurface, virtual sources and receivers inside the subsurface can be created from seismic reflection data at the surface of the Earth using the Marchenko method. The response between these virtual sources and receivers can be obtained through the use of homogeneous Green's function retrieval. A homogeneous Green's function is a superposition of a Green's function and its time reversal. The main aim of this paper is to obtain accurate homogeneous Green's functions from field data. Classical homogeneous Green's function retrieval requires an unrealistic enclosing recording surface; however, by using a recently proposed single‐sided retrieval scheme, this requirement can be avoided. We first demonstrate the principles of using the single‐sided representation on synthetic data and show that different source signatures can be taken into account. Because the Marchenko method is sensitive to recording limitations of the reflection data, we study five cases of recording limitations with synthetic data and demonstrate their effects on the final result. Finally, the method is demonstrated on a preprocessed field data set that fulfills the requirements for applying the single‐sided Green's function retrieval scheme. The scheme has the potential to be used in future applications, such as source localization. Key Points We retrieve virtual receivers and sources in the subsurface using the Marchenko method The limitations of the method are explored by truncating synthetic reflection data The methodology is applied on field data to show the potential for field applications