Interpolation and multiple attenuation with migration operators

Abstract A hyperbolic Radon transform (RT) can be applied with success to attenuate or interpolate hyperbolic events in seismic data. However, this method fails when the hyperbolic events have apexes located at nonzero offset positions. A different RT operator is required for these cases, an operator that scans for hyperbolas with apexes centered at any offset. This procedure defines an extension of the standard hyperbolic RT with hyperbolic basis functions located at every point of the data gather. The mathematical description of such an operator is basically similar to a kinematic poststack time-migration equation, with the horizontal coordinate being not midpoint but offset. In this paper, this transformation is implemented by using a least-squares conjugate gradient algorithm with a sparseness constraint. Two different operators are considered, one in the time domain and the other in the frequency-wavenumber domain (Stolt operator). The sparseness constraint in the time-offset domain is essential for resampling and for interpolation. The frequency-wavenumber domain operator is very efficient, not much more expensive in computation time than a sparse parabolic RT, and much faster than a standard hyperbolic RT. Examples of resampling, interpolation, and coherent noise attenuation using the frequency-wavenumber domain operator are presented. Near and far offset gaps are interpolated in synthetic and real shot gathers, with simultaneous resampling beyond aliasing. Waveforms are well preserved in general except when there is little coherence in the data outside the gaps or events with very different velocities are located at the same time. Multiples of diffractions are predicted and attenuated by subtraction from the data.