Processing of pinger, Chirp, boomer, and parametric subbottom profiler datasets

Subbottom profiler (SBP) systems are commonly employed for geo-hazard analysis in offshore engineering studies. The joint analysis of multi-channel seismic and SBP data also provides additional information for analyzing submarine fluid-flow structures in shallow sediments. Detailed geo-hazard analyses also aim to reveal small-scale changes in the seafloor and the underlying structures. Therefore, the horizontal and vertical resolution of SBP data is a crucial parameter, and obtaining the necessary resolution requires appropriate data processing.This study analyzes the steps and parameters applied in processing pinger, Chirp, boomer, and parametric SBP data, to determine an optimal data processing flow and parameters. Compared to multi-channel seismics, the most significant challenge in processing SBP data is to suppress noise and increase the signal-to-noise ratio. The band-pass filtering is effective in eliminating swell noise especially from boomer data. Spiking deconvolution has the most significant impact on reducing the ringy character, particularly on Chirp data. Only boomer data required the removal of multiple reflections, and predictive deconvolution was applied to eliminate the multiples. The heave effect was corrected by applying manually picked residual static values of the seafloor to the SBP data.From spectral analysis results, the wavelength of the signal was calculated, and it was observed that the parametric SBP system had the highest vertical resolution. Applications demonstrated that among the four different SBP data types, the parametric SBP data required the least processing steps and time, which indicates that the parametric SBP system is the most effective in distinguishing the SBP signal from the ambient noise during the acquisition.