Array element localization for towed marine seismic arrays

This paper presents an approach to array element localization (AEL) for towed marine seismic arrays based on regularized inversion of direct and bottom-reflected acoustic ray travel times picked from recorded seismic sections. Depth-sensor measurements at a number of points along the array are included as a priori estimates (with uncertainties) in the inversion. The smoothest array shape consistent with the acoustic data and prior estimates is determined by minimizing the array curvature or roughness. A smooth array shape is physically reasonable; in addition, minimizing curvature provides a priori information about the correlation between hydrophone positions that allows the estimation of both the offset and depth of hydrophones that record only one (or even no) acoustic arrival due to the shadowing effects of water-column refraction or reflection from arbitrary bathymetry. The AEL inversion is applied to a 102-sensor, 1.2-km towed array to correct receiver positions in the seismic velocity analysis of a seabed gas hydrate survey.