Patent ID: 7336561

Claim:
A method for attenuation of water bottom multiples in marine seismic data, comprising: calculating an up-going wavefield at a sensor position from a sum of a pressure sensor signal and a particle motion sensor signal recorded in a marine seismic streamer; calculating a down-going wavefield at the sensor position from a difference of the pressure sensor signal and the particle motion sensor signal recorded in the marine seismic streamer; backward propagating the up-going wavefield at the sensor position to the water bottom, resulting in an up-going wavefield at the water bottom; forward propagating the down-going wavefield at the sensor position to the water bottom, resulting in a down-going wavefield at the water bottom; determining a reflection coefficient at the water bottom datum; multiplying the reflection coefficient at the water bottom by the down-going wavefield at the water bottom, resulting in predicted water bottom multiples; equalizing the predicted water bottom multiples to agree with recorded water bottom multiples in amplitude, phase, and arrival time; subtracting the equalized predicted water bottom multiples from the up-going wavefield at the water bottom to generate an up-going wavefield substantially without water bottom multiples.