Multi-Azimuth Seismic

Multi-Azimuth seismic is a technique primarily used to improve illumination of the subsurface in areas of complex structures. In such areas velocity overburden effects and ray bending can mean that illumination is not even at a particular target horizon. Illumination of complex structural geology or structures below complex salt bodies is an example. By acquiring seismic data on a number of different source receiver azimuths improved illumination can be achieved.

Other potential advantages of Multi-Azimuth/Wide Azimuth surveys are:

• Improved multiple diffraction attenuation
• Improved signal to noise ratio
• Measurement of azimuthal anisotropy
• More reliable and detailed amplitude maps to map reservoir systems.

Typically a marine streamer survey would be acquired a number of times with different survey azimuths and the processed results combined.

Ocean bottom surveys offer another way of achieving a more complete azimuth distribution.