Patent ID: 6141623
Filing Date: 2000-10-31
Classification: G01V,Y02A

Abstract:
A method of determining a reflectivity of a bottom of a body of water comprising:(a) firing at least one seismic source within the body of water to generate seismic pulses that propagate within the body of water and into earth thereunder;(b) recording at least one seismic trace indicative of seismic pulses reflected by seismic reflectors within the earth, said at least one seismic trace including reverberations within the body of water of seismic pulses reflected by the seismic reflectors;(c) obtaining a travel time from an upper surface of the body of water to the bottom of the body of water;(d) for each of a first plurality of possible reflectivities of the bottom of the body of water, obtaining a filtered trace from said travel time, said at least one seismic trace, and said possible reflectivity to give a first plurality of filtered traces;(e) for each of a second plurality of analysis times within a time window, determining a quality factor from values of the first plurality of filtered traces at each said analysis time to give a second plurality of quality factors; and(f) determining said reflectivity at the bottom of the body of water from said first plurality of filtered traces and said second plurality of quality factors.