REVERSE-TIME MIGRATION OF OFFSET VERTICAL SEISMIC PROFILING DATA USING THE EXCITATION-TIME IMAGING CONDITION

To apply reverse-time migration to prestack, finite-offset data from variable-velocity media, the standard (time zero) imaging condition must be generalized because each point in the image space has a different image time (or times). This generalization is the excitation-time imaging codition, in which each point is imaged at the one-way traveltime from the source to that point. Reverse-time migration with the excitation-time imaging condition consists of three elements: (1) computation of the imaging condition; (2) extrapolation of the recorder wave field; and (3) application of the imaging condition. Computation of the imaging condition for each point in the image is done by ray tracing from the source point; this is equivalent to extrapolation of the source wave field through the medium.