3D Weak-Dispersion Reverse-Time Migration with a StereoModeling Method

Abstract

The finite difference method has been widely used in seismic modeling and reverse time migration. However, it generally has two issues: large computational cost and numerical dispersion. Recently, a nearly-analytic discrete operator was developed to approximate the partial differential operators. Based on this spatial discretization, many weak-dispersion and efficient StereoModeling methods have been developed, which are found to be superior to conventional algorithms in suppressing numerical dispersion. In this paper, we generalize one StereoModeling method, the nearly-analytic central difference method (NACD), from 2D to 3D and apply it to 3D reverse-time migration. Numerical results show that the NACD can be used effectively as a new tool for seismic modeling and migration. The reverse time migration (RTM) results for the 3D SEG/EAGE Phase A classic dataset 1 show that the NACD can get a much better image than the Lax-Wendroff correction (LWC) method particularly when using a coarse grid size.