Efficient Method for Enhancing Reverse-Time Migration Images Using Vertical Seismic Profiling Data

Vertical seismic profiling has garnered widespread attention in the industry as a supplement to seismic exploration due to its higher data quality compared to surface seismic data. However, its unique observation system in which geophones are only distributed within observation wells results in uneven coverage of subsurface structures. This can lead to significant noise when directly applying conventional reverse-time migration techniques used in surface seismic imaging. This study addresses the issue of noise suppression in reverse-time migration imaging associated with walk-away vertical seismic profiling and presents two main innovations. First, a common-receiver reverse-time migration imaging method is proposed, which uses the observation signals as excitation signals for the corresponding shots after reverse-time processing. Second, an excitation-time-constrained cross-correlation imaging condition is introduced to eliminate non-contributing portions of the wavefield, thereby modifying the traditional cross-correlation imaging condition to include an excitation time constraint. The combination of these methods enhances imaging quality by effectively suppressing noise, as demonstrated through theoretical analysis and numerical simulations with synthetic models.