Elmer Ruigrok

Passive seismic interferometry by multidimensional deconvolution

We introduce seismic interferometry of passive data by multidimensional deconvolution (MDD) as an alternative to the crosscorrelation method. Interferometry by MDD has the potential to correct for the effects of source irregularity, assuming the first arrival can be separated from the full response. MDD applications can range from reservoir imaging using microseismicity to crustal imaging with teleseismic data.

Improved surface‐wave retrieval from ambient seismic noise by multi‐dimensional deconvolution

The methodology of surface?wave retrieval from ambient seismic noise by crosscorrelation relies on the assumption that the noise field is equipartitioned. Deviations from equipartitioning degrade the accuracy of the retrieved surface?wave Greens function. A point?spread function, derived from the same ambient noise field, quantifies the smearing in space and time of the virtual source of the Greens function. By multidimensionally deconvolving the retrieved Greens function by the point?spread function, the virtual source becomes better focussed in space and time and hence the accuracy of the retrieved surface?wave Greens function may improve significantly. We illustrate this at the hand of a numerical example and discuss the advantages and limitations of this new methodology.

Global-phase seismic interferometry unveils P-wave reflectivity below the Himalayas and Tibet

A number of seismic methods exist to image the lithosphere below a collection of receivers, using distant earthquakes. In the current practice, especially mode-conversions in teleseismic phases are utilized. We present a new method that takes advantage of the availability of global phases. This method is called global-phase seismic interferometry (GloPSI). With GloPSI, zero-offset reflections are extracted from reverberations near the array caused by global seismicity. We exemplify GloPSI with data from the Hi-CLIMB experiment (2002–2005) and migrate the obtained reflection responses. This results in a 800 km long reflectivity profile through the Himalayas and a large part of the Tibetan Plateau.

Retrieving the Earth’s Reflection Response by Multi-dimensional Deconvolution of Ambient Seismic Noise

A major assumption for retrieving the earth’s reflection response with seismic interferometry by cross-correlation of ambient noise is that subsurface sources are uniformly distributed. It has been shown that interferometry by multi-dimensional deconvolution can cope with non-uniform source arrays, but implementation of this concept requires a separation of the incident wavefield from the free-surface multiples. For transient passive sources, this separation can be implemented by time-gating in the recorded transmission panels before cross-correlation, but such methodology cannot be applied for simultaneously acting noise sources. Here we show that time-gating can also be applied after an intermediate cross-correlation step. In cross-correlated data, we isolate events around t=0, which inhabit the illumination imprint of the subsurface sources. Next, we apply multi-dimensional deconvolution with the isolated events to the events away from t=0. In this way we can effectively correct for the effects of a non-uniform subsurface source distribution in data that is already cross-correlated. With this new approach, multi-dimensional deconvolution becomes feasible for simultaneously acting noise sources.

Basin Delineation with a 40‐Hour Passive Seismic Record

Several geophysical methods exist to delineate the lower interface of a sedimentary basin. Most popularly employed are gravity and magnetic surveys and surface-wave inversion. While all three methods are successful overall in estimating an average basin depth, they fail to find a more detailed depth variation. As an alter- native, we consider three passive seismic techniques, using especially body waves. We analyze 40 hours of data, recorded with 110 stations installed over the Abu Gharadig basin in Egypt. In an earlier study we found the frequency band of 0.09-1.0 Hz to be dominated by body waves. As a first method we apply body-wave seismic interfero- metry (SI). Using body-wave noise, we extract PP and SS reflections from the basin floor. We estimate the depth of the basin to be around 4.8 km. As a second technique we estimate the resonance spectra of the basin, using the horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratio. Using surface-wave noise, we find an extremum that is probably related to the complete sedimentary package. Using this peak, we find a basin depth of 5.4 km. Using S-phase arrivals, we find two extrema in the H/V, which are probably related to the S-wave resonances of two distinct layers in the basin. As a third method we compute receiver functions (RFs). Based on the RFs, we can confirm the presence of a large interface in the upper crust, but we cannot well constrain its depth.

Infrasonic interferometry of stratospherically refracted microbaroms: A numerical study

The atmospheric wind and temperature can be estimated through the traveltimes of infrasound between pairs of receivers. The traveltimes can be obtained by infrasonic interferometry. In this study, the theory of infrasonic interferometry is verified and applied to modeled stratospherically refracted waves. Synthetic barograms are generated using a raytracing model and taking into account atmospheric attenuation, geometrical spreading, and phase shifts due to caustics. Two types of source wavelets are implemented for the experiments: blast waves and microbaroms. In both numerical experiments, the traveltimes between the receivers are accurately retrieved by applying interferometry to the synthetic barograms. It is shown that microbaroms can be used in practice to obtain the traveltimes of infrasound through the stratosphere, which forms the basis for retrieving the wind and temperature profiles.

Cross-correlation beamforming

An areal distribution of sensors can be used for estimating the direction of incoming waves through beamforming. Beamforming may be implemented as a phase-shifting and stacking of data recorded on the different sensors (i.e., conventional beamforming). Alternatively, beamforming can be applied to cross-correlations between the waveforms on the different sensors. We derive a kernel for beamforming cross-correlated data and call it cross-correlation beamforming (CCBF). We point out that CCBF has slightly better resolution and aliasing characteristics than conventional beamforming. When auto-correlations are added to CCBF, the array response functions are the same as for conventional beamforming. We show numerically that CCBF is more resilient to non-coherent noise. Furthermore, we illustrate that with CCBF individual receiver-pairs can be removed to improve mapping to the slowness domain. An additional flexibility of CCBF is that cross-correlations can be time-windowed prior to beamforming, e.g., to remove the directionality of a scattered wavefield. The observations on synthetic data are confirmed with field data from the SPITS array (Svalbard). Both when beamforming an earthquake arrival and when beamforming ambient noise, CCBF focuses more of the energy to a central beam. Overall, the main advantage of CCBF is noise suppression and its flexibility to remove station pairs that deteriorate the signal-related beampower.

Retrieving surface waves from ambient seismic noise using seismic interferometry by multidimensional deconvolution

Retrieving virtual source surface waves from ambient seismic noise by cross correlation assumes, among others, that the noise field is equipartitioned and the medium is lossless. Violation of these assumptions reduces the accuracy of the retrieved waves. A point-spread function computed from the same ambient noise quantifies the associated virtual sources spatial and temporal smearing. Multidimensional deconvolution (MDD) of the retrieved surface waves by this function has been shown to improve the virtual sources focusing and the accuracy of the retrieved waves using synthetic data. We tested MDD on data recorded during the Batholiths experiment, a passive deployment of broadband seismic sensors in British Columbia, Canada. The array consisted of two approximately linear station lines. Using 4 months of recordings, we retrieved fundamental-mode Rayleigh waves (0.05–0.27 Hz). We only used noise time windows dominated by waves that traverse the northern line before reaching the southern (2.5% of all data). Compared to the conventional cross-correlation result based on this subset, the MDD waveforms are better localized and have significantly higher signal-to-noise ratio. Furthermore, MDD corrects the phase, and the spatial deconvolution fills in a spectral (f, k domain) gap between the single-frequency and double-frequency microseism bands. Frequency whitening of the noise also fills the gap in the cross-correlation result, but the signal-to-noise ratio of the MDD result remains higher. Comparison of the extracted phase velocities shows some differences between the methods, also when all data are included in the conventional cross correlation.

A Shallow Seismic Velocity Model for the Groningen Area in the Netherlands

The province of Groningen in the Netherlands holds one of the worlds largest natural gas fields, and it has been an important source of energy for Western Europe for many decades. The seismicity in recent years called for a better understanding of the local subsurface, and therefore a dense network of 70 boreholes was installed in early 2015. Each borehole is equipped with four geophones and a surface accelerometer. In this study, data from this network are used to determine the shallow velocity structure that is important for the quantification of the seismic hazard and accurate source localizations. Compressional and shear wave velocity profiles with uncertainties are derived for each of the 200 m deep boreholes using passive seismic interferometry applied to local event data. The resulting seismic velocity distributions are presented as contour maps for 50 m depth intervals. The maps show strong lateral variations, where areas of low VP/VS ratio correspond to regions of sedimentary infill. The shear wave velocities were derived using the transverse component seismograms. Because the sensor orientations of the borehole geophones were unknown, they had to be determined first. This was done using a novel method based on cross correlations between the geophones and their colocated surface accelerometer. In addition, by extensive cross-correlation analysis over the network, several installation inconsistencies were identified and resolved.

Global-phase H/V spectral ratio for delineating the basin in the Malargüe Region, Argentina

Structural estimation of unconsolidated sediments and basins is of fundamental importance for resources exploration, geohazard assessments, and other geophysical aspects. The estimation contributes not only to the understanding of the tectonic settings, but also to the choice of parameters for possible further seismic processing, for example, predictive deconvolution, the result of which could be used for imaging the subsurface structures below the basin.