Marine Broadband Technologies: Theory and Practice

by David H. Carlson

Duration: One day

Intended Audience: Intermediate and Advanced levels

Prerequisites (Knowledge/Experience/Education Required): It is recommended that the student have nominal knowledge of marine seismic data acquisition and preprocessing. Some explanations of methods will require discussions of data transformed into the frequency domain. Particular mathematical equations will be used when necessary; the discussion of these equations will always pause for a brief tutorial of the terms.

Summary:
This course describes the acquisition and processing of marine broadband data using newly developed methods in the industry. Three main methods will be discussed. The course is not a comparison of the three methods but an explanation of the methods with an appreciation for each for the improvements in data quality and acquisition efficiency. Although the theory has been known for decades, advances in acquisition equipment and techniques have made the methods operational. This course provides understanding of the processing for improved interpretation of the data.

Course Outline:

  1. A tutorial on the theory of wave motion
  2. Wave motion theory supporting broadband methods
  3. Streamer methods: 2D and 3D
    • Over/under acquisition
    • Dual sensor acquisition
    • Multilevel sensor acquisition
  4. Seismic Resolution and Noise
  5. Sources
    • Over/under gun arrays
  6. Processing comparisons with conventional data
  7. Multicomponent acquisition
    • Ocean bottom multicomponent acquisition
    • Cable multicomponent acquisition
  8. Future challenges

Learner Outcomes:

From the discussions and exercises the participant will be able to 

  1. Identify the advantages these methods have over conventionally acquired data
  2. Distinguish between  correctly and incorrectly processed broadband data
  3. Employ the added band width for better interpretation of the data

Instructor Biography:
David H. Carlson