Introduction to Subsurface Inversion Using Reversible Jump Markov-chain Monte Carlo

Subsurface velocity is critical for the accurate resolution geological structures. The estimation of acoustic impedance is also critical, as it provides key information regarding the reservoir properties. Therefore, researchers have developed various inversion approaches for the estimation of reservoir properties. The Markov chain Monte Carlo method, which is a stochastic method, has advantages over the deterministic method, as the stochastic method enables us to attenuate the local minima problem and quantify the uncertainty of inversion results. Therefore, the Markov chain Monte Carlo inversion method has been applied to various kinds of geophysical inversion problems. However, studies on the Markov chain Monte Carlo inversion are still very few compared with deterministic approaches. In this study, we reviewed various types of reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo applications and explained the key concept of each application. Furthermore, we discussed future applications of the stochastic method.