Shallow Velocity Estimation by Multiples for Monochannel Boomer Surveys

Abstract

The shallow P velocity provides relevant information for offshore engineers, in planning pipelines, piers, and platforms. Standard multichannel surveys trailing long cables provide good estimates but may require stopping other ongoing operations or may affect the environment. Monochannel surveys by Boomer systems involve a very short cable, so those drawbacks are minimized; however, this comes at the cost of loss of information for estimating the P velocity of shallow layers. In this paper, we present a new method exploiting multiple reflections for characterizing the seafloor. After validation of the algorithm by a synthetic example, we tested this approach in a marine survey acquired by a Boomer system at the Gulf of Trieste (Italy).