Anisotropy Processing of Multi-Component Seismic Data – Part 3: Pre-Stack Time Migration

Prestack time migration is an efficient imaging method for processing seismic data due to its input/output flexibility and target-orientation, and has recently become a routine step in the seismic data processing flow. Prestack Kirchhoff time migration can produce high-quality migrated images from real seismic data with the correct velocity models. Important issues in applying prestack time migration are how to obtain the correct velocity model, and selecting suitable travel time formulae for different wave types (PP and PS) in different media. In this part, I will introduce the theory for prestack time migration in a VTI medium, and a method for obtaining the optimal velocity model for prestack time migration from seismic data.