Noise types and their attenuation in towed marine seismic: A tutorial

Abstract

The presence of noise in towed marine seismic data is a long-standing problem. The various types of noise present in marine seismic records are never truly random. Instead, seismic noise is more complex and often challenging to attenuate in seismic data processing. Therefore, we have examined a wide range of real data examples contaminated by different types of noise including swell noise, seismic interference noise, strumming noise, passing vessel noise, vertical particle velocity noise, streamer hit and fishing gear noise, snapping shrimp noise, spike-like noise, cross-feed noise, and streamer-mounted device noise. The noise examples investigated focus only on data acquired with analog group forming. Each noise type is classified based on its origin, coherency, and frequency content. We then determine how the noise component can be effectively attenuated through industry-standard seismic processing techniques. In this tutorial, we avoid presenting the finest details of either the physics of the different types of noise themselves or the noise attenuation algorithms applied. Rather, we focus on presenting the noise problems themselves and find out how well the community is able to address such noise. Our aim is that, based on the provided insights, the geophysical community will be able to gain an appreciation of some of the most common types of noise encountered in marine towed seismic, in the hope to inspire more researchers to focus their attention on noise problems with greater potential industry impact.