Time-frequency domain SNR estimation and its application in seismic data processing

Based on an approach estimating frequency domain signal-to-noise ratio (FSNR), we propose a method to evaluate time-frequency domain signal-to-noise ratio (TFSNR). This method adopts short-time Fourier transform (STFT) to estimate instantaneous power spectrum of signal and noise, and thus uses their ratio to compute TFSNR. Unlike FSNR describing the variation of SNR with frequency only, TFSNR depicts the variation of SNR with time and frequency, and thus better handles non-stationary seismic data. By considering TFSNR, we develop methods to improve the effects of inverse Q filtering and high frequency noise attenuation in seismic data processing. Inverse Q filtering considering TFSNR can better solve the problem of amplitude amplification of noise. The high frequency noise attenuation method considering TFSNR, different from other de-noising methods, distinguishes and suppresses noise using an explicit criterion. Examples of synthetic and real seismic data illustrate the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed methods. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.