Wind and Rain Induced Noise on Reflection Seismic Data

Seismic noise induced by wind and rain has been monitored as function of rain intensity and wind speed. Noise samples are compiled and characterized. The present results suggest that landstreamer data are more sensitive to noise induced by wind compared to data recorded by planted geophones. Both planted geophones and geophones mounted on sledges are sensitive to noise induced by rain and show approximately the same noise level but with different characteristics. In order to demonstrate the consequences of wind- and rain-induced noise, different noise levels are simulated on vibroseismic data. Data samples illustrate the influence of noise at certain wind speeds and rain intensities on correlated and stacked data. Noise from rain, recorded by geophones mounted on sledges, is mainly visible as localized events, caused by the individual rain drops. Even with moderate to heavy rain, relatively few events of short duration are present compared to quiet periods in between. This can be useful in developing a noise suppression method reducing noise from rain on uncorrelated vibroseismic data. The method requires that several sweeps are carried out at each source location. The performance of the noise suppression method is tested on data, where noise has been imposed.