Marine Vibrator Sources: Motion Correction, Deghosting and Designature

Traditional marine seismic sources such as compressed air sources are impulsive and thus deliver their output almost instantaneously. This implies that the source output can be assumed to be stationary and the associated source motion neglected during processing. However, with increasingly strict environmental regulations and demand for efficiency and control of the source output, alternative sources that can meet these requirements are currently being developed. Marine vibrators are among the most promising candidates for such sources since they are inherently non-impulsive and controllable. The output is distributed over time, typically as sweep signals in the order of a few seconds in duration. Consequently, marine vibrators are highly susceptible to source motion effects. In this paper, we demonstrate how to properly handle these motion effects and perform source deghosting and designature in one operation. The input data is modeled using moving sources following the Marine Vibrator Joint Industry Project (MVJIP) source specifications.