USING PROJECTION ONTO CONVEX SETS TO CONSTRAIN FULL-WAVEFIELD INVERSION

Method for stabilizing the updated model (13) in iterative seismic data inversion so that the model-simulated data for the next iteration does not "blow up." A Projection Onto Convex Sets ("POCS") operator is defined that converts the matrix corresponding to the model to a positive semi-definite matrix. The stability projection operator may be looped with physical constraint projection operators until the model converges (15). The resulting stable and constrained model is then used to simulate seismic data in the next cycle of the outer iteration loop (16).