Backprojection versus backpropagation in multidimensional linearized inversion

Abstract

Seismic migration can be viewed as either backprojection (diffraction‐stack) or backpropagation (wave‐field extrapolation) (e.g., Gazdag and Sguazzero, 1984). Migration by backprojection was the view supporting the first digital methods—the diffraction and common tangent stacks of what is now called classical or statistical migration (Lindsey and Hermann, 1970; Rockwell, 1971; Schneider, 1971; Johnson and French, 1982). In this approach, each data point is associated with an isochron surface passing through the scattering object. Data values are then interpreted as projections of reflectivity over the associated isochrons. Dually, each image point is associated with a reflection‐time surface passing through the data traces. The migrated image at that point is obtained as a weighted stack of data lying on the reflection‐time surface (Rockwell, 1971; Schneider, 1971). This amounts to a weighted backprojection in which each data point contributes to image points lying on its associated isochron.