A new method for determining OBS positions for crustal structure studies, using airgun shots and precise bathymetric data

Abstract

Ocean-bottom seismometer (OBS) positions are one of the key parameters in an OBS-airgun seismic survey for crustal structure study. To improve the quality of these parameters, we have developed a new method of determining OBS positions, using airgun shot data and bathymetric data in addition to available distance measurements by acoustic transponders. The traveltimes of direct water waves emitted by airgun shots and recorded by OBSs are used as important information for determining OBS locations, in cases where there are few acoustic transponder data (<3 sites).

The new method consists of two steps. A global search is performed as the first step, to find nodes of the bathymetric grid that are the closest to explaining the observed direct water-wave traveltimes from airgun shots, and acoustic ranging using a transponder system. The use of precise 2D bathymetric data is most important if the bottom topography near the OBS is extremely rough. The locations of the nodes obtained by the first step are used as initial values for the second step, to avoid falling into local convergence minima. In the second step, a non-linear inverse method is executed.

If the OBS internal clock shows large drift, a secondary correction for the OBS internal clock is obtained, as well as the OBS location, as final results by this method. We discuss the error and the influence of each measurement used in the determination of OBS location.