Noise reduction of time domain electromagnetic data: Application of a combined wavelet denoising method

A denoising method based on wavelet analysis is presented for the removal of noise (background noise and random spike) from time domain electromagnetic (TEM) data. This method includes two signal processing technologies: wavelet threshold method and stationary wavelet transform. First, wavelet threshold method is used for the removal of background noise from TEM data. Then, the data are divided into a series of details and approximations by using stationary wavelet transform. The random spike in details is identified by zero reference data and adaptive energy detector. Next, the corresponding details are processed to suppress the random spike. The denoised TEM data are reconstructed via inverse stationary wavelet transform using the processed details at each level and the approximations at the highest level. The proposed method has been verified using a synthetic TEM data, the signal‐to‐noise ratio of synthetic TEM data is increased from 10.97 dB to 24.37 dB at last. This method is also applied to the noise suppression of the field data which were collected at Hengsha island, China. The section image results shown that the noise is suppressed effectively and the resolution of the deep anomaly is obviously improved. Key Points Noise suppression of time domain electromagnetic data Background noise and random spike removal Improving of prospecting depth