Event detection in P-SV prestack time migration using matched filters

Jeffrey Karl Beckett, John C. Bancroft

Given a particular statistical measure of signal to noise (S/N), the "matched filter" is the ideal linear filter for maximizing the S/N ratio of a signal amongst random noise (Robinson & Treitel, 1980). Kirchhoff migration is a seismic processing equivalent to the matched filter. Through improved approximations of the earth's impulse response, superior output S/N ratios, or superior imaging, can be obtained. In this paper, a matched filter approach to prestack P-SV wave amplitude weighting is proposed, and preliminary tests on synthetic data yield promising results.