US 11,656,377 B2
Visco-acoustic full waveform inversion of velocity and Q
Yi Xie, Singapore (SG); and Min Wang, Singapore (SG)
Assigned to CGG SERVICES SAS, Massy (FR)
Filed by CGG SERVICES SAS, Massy (FR)
Filed on Jul. 11, 2018, as Appl. No. 16/32,429.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/650,500, filed on Mar. 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2019/0302292 A1, Oct. 3, 2019
Int. Cl. G01V 1/30 (2006.01); G01V 1/28 (2006.01)
CPC G01V 1/301 (2013.01) [G01V 1/282 (2013.01); G01V 1/303 (2013.01); G01V 2210/614 (2013.01); G01V 2210/64 (2013.01); G01V 2210/679 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for seismic exploration using a visco-acoustic full wave inversion, FWI, the method comprising:
obtaining seismic data for an explored subsurface formation;
determining an initial velocity model associated with the explored subsurface formation;
performing a first visco-acoustic FWI to obtain a quality factor, Q, model, using the initial velocity model;
performing at least one second visco-acoustic FWI to update the velocity model and the Q model using a frequency-dependent velocity to reduce cross-talk between Q and velocity; and
using a combination of the velocity model and the Q model to identify natural resources in the explored subsurface formation and/or to plan an exploitation thereof,
wherein a reference velocity, which corresponds to a reference frequency and is based on the initial velocity model, is input to the first and the at least one second visco-acoustic FWI, and
the first visco-acoustic FWI is performed on a subset of the seismic data in a frequency band different from the reference frequency so as to minimize phase differences.