System and method for acquiring marine seismic data using a vibrator

A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the following operations to be performed:

• obtaining data comprising a plurality of nominal and regularly spaced pre-plot positions;
• monitoring the speed of the vessel and a position of the vibrator;
• based on the speed of the vessel, setting an initial sweep, comprising an active sweep period and zero or more silent portions, wherein the total length of the sweep is equal to the time taken for the vibrator to travel from one nominal pre-plot position to the next nominal pre-plot position;
• driving the vibrator with the initial sweep parameters;
• at the start of every Nth sweep, where N is equal to or greater than one, determining an offset between the actual vibrator position the nominal pre-plot position in the inline direction;
• if the offset is above a threshold distance, adjusting the length of the sweep so that the subsequent sweep is started within a predetermined distance of its nominal pre-plot position.