Linear inversion-imaging method based on joint primary reflected waves and surface-related multiples

In marine seismic exploration, especially in deep-water and hard ocean-bottom cases, free-surface multiples are strongly developed. Compared with primary waves, the wider illumination aperture of the multiples is beneficial for high-resolution seismic imaging. In this study, by introducing a new compound source composed of primaries and free-surface multiples and by ignoring internal multiples, we derive a new linearized forward problem (free-surface-multiple prediction model) under a weak-scattering assumption (i.e., first-order Born approximation). On the basis of the new linearized problem, we propose a joint inversion-imaging method by simultaneously using the primaries and free-surface multiples under the general framework of least square inversion. To eliminate the crosstalk artifacts introduced by the cross-correlation of multiples with different orders, we prove that the crosstalk artifacts can be gradually eliminated during the inversion if a proper step length is selected. Synthetic- and field-data tests demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.