Synthetic Analysis of Model Smoothing’s Influence on Ray Path, Traveltime and Migration Imaging

Abstract

Abstract. Smoothing process might change the value of grid nodes in the migration model, which is essential to seismic imaging. We will study the influence of model smoothing on ray path and traveltime as well as their connections with the migration imaging. A deep-water velocity model is employed for the calculation. The numerical analysis shows that model smoothing has a significant influence on ray path and traveltime, these differences can affect the migration images. Optimal smoothing process is beneficial to achieve high-quality migration images, while inappropriate model smoothing could even change the shape of real geology body and lead to wrong geology structures in the migration sections.