Regularizing seismic inverse problems by model reparameterization using plane-wave construction

We define plane-wave construction (PWC), an operator for generating data aligned along predefined locally variable slopes, as the inverse of plane-wave destruction, an operator used for measuring the slopes. PWC can be applied for efficient regularization of seismic estimation problems. Using simple examples, we demonstrate how PWC enhances the coherency of seismic images, improves velocity estimation methods, and separates primaries and multiples with a pattern-based approach.