We are developing the theory, numerical algorithm, and prototype implementation of
narrow-azimuth migration, a powerful and efficient method for 3-D seismic imaging of marine streamer data.
Narrow-azimuth migration takes advantage of the narrow-azimuth character of data acquired by marine
streamers to increase the efficiency of seismic imaging by wavefield extrapolation methods. A new theory is
being developed to account for inadequate approximation in common-azimuth migration and corrected for small
rotation in the offset azimuth of the propagating wavefield. We anticipate that this theory will lead to a
noticeable improvement in current seismic imaging technology. An additional increase in efficiency comes from
implementing the narrow-azimuth algorithm on parallel computer clusters. |