Identification and suppression of multiples in ocean bottom seismic data

A method for identifying and suppressing water column reverberations ("multiple reflections") in two-component ocean bottom seismic data is disclosed. The method involves processing the hydrophone (P) data and the geophone (Z) data separately to produce two stacked images of the subsurface. Analyzing the stacked P-image and the stacked Z-image together can be used to identify multiple reflections. Analyzing the stacked /′-image and the stacked Z-image together with an image of the subsurface created from hydrophone and geophone data combined in the usual way (PZ-image) can be used to identify residual multiples in the PZ image. The stacked P and Z images can be combined using an existing PZ combination technique to suppress multiples. The efficiency of the PZ combination technique at suppressing multiples is increased because of the higher signal-to-noise ratio of stacked data.