System and method for elastic full waveform inversion and imaging

A computing device for seismic imaging of a subsurface using a full waveform inversion, FWI, the computing device comprising:

• an interface configured to receive an initial P-velocity model that describes how a seismic wave propagates through the subsurface;
• and
• a processor connected to the interface and configured to,
• generate an S-velocity model based on the initial P-velocity model;
• generate an elastic synthetic dataset p based on the initial P-velocity model and the S-velocity model;
• receive a recorded seismic dataset d of the subsurface;
• update the P-velocity model based on a comparison between the elastic synthetic dataset p and the recorded seismic dataset d;
• update a reflectivity at various locations in the subsurface based on the updated P-velocity model;
• and
• generate an image of the subsurface based on the reflectivity.

A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, implement a method of seismic imaging of a subsurface using a full waveform inversion, FWI, the medium comprising instructions for:

• obtaining an initial P-velocity model that describes how a seismic wave propagates through the subsurface;
• generating an S-velocity model based on the initial P-velocity model;
• generating an elastic synthetic dataset p based on the initial P-velocity model and the S-velocity model;
• receiving a recorded seismic dataset d of the subsurface;
• updating the P-velocity model based on a comparison between the synthetic dataset p and the recorded seismic dataset d;
• updating a reflectivity at various locations in the subsurface based on the updated P-velocity model;
• and
• generating an image of the subsurface based on the reflectivity.