Patent ID: 8416640

Claim:
A method of acquiring three-dimensional marine seismic data having optimized subsurface coverage while minimizing an amount of time required to acquire the seismic data, comprising: providing a substantially linear array of a plurality of acoustic energy receivers disposed upon or proximate to the sea floor to form a receiver line; providing a plurality of acoustic energy source points to form a source array; towing the source array behind a source vessel near or on the surface of the water above the receiver line and along a repeating survey pattern having a plurality of substantially linear source lines that are substantially parallel to each other and each of which intersects the receiver line, the survey pattern comprising: at least one long source line having a first length; at least one intermediate source line having a second length that is less than the first length; at least one short source line having a third length that is less than the second length; a sequence of long source lines, intermediate source lines and short source lines, wherein the amount of time required to complete the repeating survey pattern and acquire the seismic data is minimized while also maintaining balanced offset coverage of the subsurface; actuating the acoustic energy sources to produce acoustic energy at predetermined intervals while moving along the source lines and detecting reflected acoustic energy with the receivers of the receiver line.