Tutorial on seismic interferometry: Part 1 — Basic principles and applications

Abstract

Seismic interferometry involves the crosscorrelation of responses at different receivers to obtain the Green’s function between these receivers. For the simple situation of an impulsive plane wave propagating along the [Formula: see text]-axis, the crosscorrelation of the responses at two receivers along the [Formula: see text]-axis gives the Green’s function of the direct wave between these receivers. When the source function of the plane wave is a transient (as in exploration seismology) or a noise signal (as in passive seismology), then the crosscorrelation gives the Green’s function, convolved with the autocorrelation of the source function. Direct-wave interferometry also holds for 2D and 3D situations, assuming the receivers are surrounded by a uniform distribution of sources. In this case, the main contributions to the retrieved direct wave between the receivers come from sources in Fresnel zones around stationary points. The main application of direct-wave interferometry is theretrieval of seismic surface-wave responses from ambient noise and the subsequent tomographic determination of the surface-wave velocity distribution of the subsurface. Seismic interferometry is not restricted to retrieving direct waves between receivers. In a classic paper, Claerbout shows that the autocorrelation of the transmission response of a layered medium gives the plane-wave reflection response of that medium. This is essentially 1D reflected-wave interferometry. Similarly, the crosscorrelation of the transmission responses, observed at two receivers, of an arbitrary inhomogeneous medium gives the 3D reflection response of that medium. One of the main applications of reflected-wave interferometry is retrieving the seismic reflection response from ambient noise and imaging of the reflectors in the subsurface. A common aspect of direct- and reflected-wave interferometry is that virtual sources are created at positions where there are only receivers without requiring knowledge of the subsurface medium parameters or of the positions of the actual sources.