ADIZUA, Okechukwu Frank1* and OKORIE, Iheanyichukwu Patrick Chikwendu2

There is always a signal and a noise component in seismic data. Noise can be defined as any recorded energy that tampers with the desired signal of interest. Although it might be difficult to separate signal from noise due to the variety of noise kinds, effective noise suppression is crucial for high-quality imaging. Surface waves or ground roll are a prominent source-generated coherent noise in exploration seismology. Ground roll contains little to no information about the deeper subsurface as it moves laterally through the earth’s near surface. The low-frequency contents and strong amplitudes of these arrivals often mask recordings of body waves reflected by deeper subsurface targets. This discussion paper will describe ground rolls, a significant form of seismic coherent noise, as well as their unique characteristics, how they appear on acquired seismic data, the significance of suppressing them in seismic processing applications, and an examination of local wave-field decomposition (LWD) techniques and their applications.

Keywords: Seismic Data, Signals (Primary Reflections), Noise, Coherent Noise, Ground Roll, LWD Based Suppression Strategies.

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