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Volume 38 Number 4
  • E-ISSN: 1365-2478

Abstract

A

The signal‐to‐noise (S/N) ratio of seismic reflection data can be significantly enhanced by stacking. However, stacking using the arithmetic mean (straight stacking) does not maximize the S/N ratio of the stack if there are trace‐to‐trace variations in the S/N ratio. In this case, the S/N ratio of the stack is maximized by weighting each trace by its signal amplitude divided by its noise power, provided the noise is stationary. We estimate these optimum weights using two criteria: the amplitude‐decay rate and the measured noise amplitude for each trace. The amplitude‐decay rates are measured relative to the median amplitude‐decay rate as a function of midpoint and offset. The noise amplitudes are measured using the data before the first seismic arrivals or at late record times. The optimum stacking weights are estimated from these two quantities using an empirical equation.

Tests with synthetic data show that, even after noisy‐trace editing, the S/N ratio of the weighted stack can be more than 10 dB greater than the S/N ratio of the straight stack, but only a few decibels more than the S/N ratio of the trace equalized stack. When the S/N ratio is close to 0 dB, a difference of 4 dB is clearly visible to the eye, but a difference of 1 dB or less is not visible. In many cases the S/N ratio of the trace‐equalized stack is only a few decibels less than that of the optimum stack, so there is little to be gained from weighted stacking. However, when noisy‐trace editing is omitted, the S/N ratio of the weighted stack can be more than 10 dB greater than that of the trace‐equalized stack. Tests using field data show that the results from straight stacking, trace‐equalized stacking, and weighted stacking are often indistinguishable, but weighted stacking can yield slight improvements on isolated portions of the data.

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2006-04-27
2024-04-19

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