Improving adaptive subtraction in seismic multiple attenuation

Abstract

In seismic multiple attenuation, once the multiple models have been built, the effectiveness of the processing depends on the subtraction step. Usually the primary energy is partially attenuated during the adaptive subtraction if an [Formula: see text]-norm matching filter is used to solve a least-squares problem. The expanded multichannel matching (EMCM) filter generally is effective, but conservative parameters adopted to preserve the primary could lead to some remaining multiples. We have managed to improve the multiple attenuation result through an iterative application of the EMCM filter to accumulate the effect of subtraction. A Butterworth-type masking filter based on the multiple model can be used to preserve most of the primary energy prior to subtraction, and then subtraction can be performed on the remaining part to better suppress the multiples without affecting the primaries. Meanwhile, subtraction can be performed according to the orders of the multiples, as a single subtraction window usually covers different-order multiples with different amplitudes. Theoretical analyses, and synthetic and real seismic data set demonstrations, proved that a combination of these three strategies is effective in improving the adaptive subtraction during seismic multiple attenuation.