Wavelet estimation from marine pressure measurements

A new and alternative procedure for the deterministic estimation of the sei smic source time function (wavelet) is proposed. This paper follows a serie s of reports on source signature estimation, requiring neither statistical assumptions on the signature nor any knowledge about the earth below the re ceivers. The proposed estimation method, which in principle is exact, uses conventio nal recordings of the pressure on a surface below the source and recordings of the pressure at one or more locations above the receiver surface. The d erivation of the method is based on the Kirchhoff-Helmholtz integral equati on. The formulation ensures that the scattered energy is filtered from the wavelet estimation, enabling the wavelet to be detected from the direct pre ssure field. Along with the derivation, we present a numerical example.