AVO and AVA inversion challenges: a conceptual overview

Jeff P. Grossman

Inversion of seismic data for earth parameters involves two main steps: (1) estimate the reflectivity as a function of incidence angle for each point in the subsurface, and (2) in accordance with some mathematical model, invert the reflectivity to estimate the corresponding earth parameters. As simple as this observation may seem at first sight, there are many challenges associated with both of these steps. In conjunction with the extensive, up to date bibliography compiled here, it is my hope that my humble perspective on these issues will benefit the active researcher of seismic inversion theory.