Joint receiver deghosting and streamer depth inversion without prior depth information

SUMMARY Receiver-side ghost reflections in marine seismic data cause destructive interference that degrades vertical resolution and limits usable bandwidth, particularly in shallow water environments. While dual-sensor and variable-depth streamer systems can mitigate these effects, their effectiveness relies on accurate depth measurements, which are typically available but may be compromised in legacy data sets or in the presence of equipment malfunctions. Processing-based deghosting methods typically assume static and known receiver depths, limiting their effectiveness when depth variations are unmeasured or dynamic. This study introduces a joint inversion framework for simultaneous receiver deghosting and streamer depth estimation without prior depth information. The method operates in the τ-p domain and combines sparse inversion via iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm with depth optimization through gradient descent. Initial depth estimates are obtained from autocorrelation-derived ghost delay analysis. Numerical experiments on synthetic and field data sets demonstrate that the method effectively suppresses ghost artefacts, broadens spectral bandwidth and enhances reflector continuity. The estimated depth profiles reflect realistic streamer behaviour, including sag, and converge towards effective values that best explain the ghost interference under a least-squares criterion. These results confirm the robustness and practical value of the approach for marine seismic processing, particularly in reprocessing legacy data or handling surveys with incomplete acquisition metadata. The framework offers a data-driven alternative to hardware-dependent deghosting solutions.