Full reciprocity-gap waveform inversion enabling sparse-source acquisition

The quantitative reconstruction of subsurface earth properties from the propagation of waves follows an iterative minimization of a misfit functional. In marine seismic exploration, the observed data usually consist of measurements of the pressure field, but dual-sensor devices also provide the normal velocity. Consequently, a reciprocity-based misfit functional is specifically designed, and it defines the full reciprocity-gap waveform inversion (FRgWI) method. This misfit functional provides additional features compared to the more traditional least-squares approaches, in particular, in that the observational and computational acquisitions can be different. Therefore, the positions and wavelets of the sources from which the measurements are acquired are not needed in the reconstruction procedure and, in fact, the numerical acquisition (for the simulations) can be chosen arbitrarily. Based on 3D experiments, FRgWI is shown to behave better than full-waveform inversion in the same context. It allows for arbitrary numerical acquisitions in two ways: when few measurements are given, a dense numerical acquisition (compared to the observational one) can be used to compensate. However, with a dense observational acquisition, a sparse computational one is shown to be sufficient, for instance, with multiple-point sources, hence reducing the numerical cost. FRgWI displays accurate reconstructions in both situations and appears more robust with respect to crosstalk than least-squares shot stacking.