In pursuit of the ideal 3D streamer symmetric sampling criteria

Abstract

Artifact-free seismic imaging explicitly depends upon uniform surface and subsurface sampling of the 5D seismic wavefield. This is never achieved in practice, as compromises must be made in the name of cost. We use the principles of 3D symmetric sampling and minimal data sets to build a foundation for evaluating the optimal single vessel 3D acquisition methodology. We demonstrate through synthetic and real data examples a number of innovative acquisition scenarios that might provide significant advances in subsurface illumination density, noise attenuation, and improved seismic data quality. Our conclusion is that High Density 3D streamer acquisition + 100% sail line overlap + anti-parallel sail lines + strike shooting offers the best available solution, as constrained by operational considerations.