Patent ID: 8010293

Claim:
A method for determining a seismic image of a target area, wherein the target area is defined by a volume of interest (VOI), comprising: receiving an unmigrated set of spatial wavelets, wherein the unmigrated set of spatial wavelets include unmigrated spatial wavelets in the time domain; receiving a first migrated set of spatial wavelets, wherein the first migrated set of spatial wavelets includes migrated spatial wavelets in the depth domain; wherein: each spatial wavelet comprises information about spatial location, orientation, amplitude, wavelet, acquisition configuration, and coherency; and each spatial wavelet in the unmigrated set of spatial wavelets is linked to a spatial wavelet in the first migrated set of spatial wavelets; selecting spatial wavelets from the first migrated set of spatial wavelets that are within the VOI; selecting a target set of spatial wavelets, the target set of spatial wavelets including spatial wavelets from the unmigrated set of spatial wavelets that are linked to the selected spatial wavelets from the first migrated set of spatial wavelets; migrating the target set of spatial wavelets using one or more of a velocity model to create a second migrated set of spatial wavelets; synthesizing the second migrated set of spatial wavelets into a new seismic volume; and synthesizing the second migrated set of spatial wavelets into one or more new seismic gathers; wherein the method is performed by at least one computer comprising one or more processors and a memory.