Depth imaging in anisotropic media by symmetric non‐stationary phase shift

We present a new depth‐imaging method for seismic data in heterogeneous anisotropic media. This recursive explicit method uses a non‐stationary extrapolation operator to allow lateral velocity variation, and it uses the relationship between phase angle and the spectral coordinates of seismic data to allow velocity variation with phase angle. A qualitative comparison of migration impulse responses suggests that, for an equivalent cost, the symmetric non‐stationary phase‐shift (SNPS) operator is superior to the phase‐shift plus interpolation (PSPI) operator, for very large depth intervals. To demonstrate the potential of the new method, seismic data from a physical model acquired over a transversely isotropic medium are imaged using a shot‐record migration based on the SNPS operator.