Abstract

The Earth Study 360 (ES-360) Imager a new subsurface angle-domain seismic imaging system for generating and extracting high-resolution information about subsurface angle-dependent reflectivity. The system enables geophysicists to use all recorded seismic data in a continuous fashion directly in the subsurface local angle domain (LAD), resulting fullazimuth, common-image angle gathers namely: directional and reflection gathers. The complete set of information from both types of angle gathers leads to accurate high-resolution, reliable velocity model determination and reservoir characterization. The directional angle decomposition enables the implementation of specular and diffraction imaging in real 3D isotropic/anisotropic geological models, leading to simultaneous emphasis on continuous structural surfaces and discontinuous objects such as faults and small-scale fractures .Structural attributes at each subsurface point, e.g., dip, azimuth and continuity, can be derived directly from the directional angle gathers. The reflection-angle gathers display reflectivity as a function of the opening angle and opening azimuth.