Method and system for efficient extrapolation of a combined source-and-receiver wavefield

A method carried out within a seismic-exploration data-analysis system having one or more processors and one or more physical data-storage devices, the method comprising:

• receiving or generating a first and a second derived, second-domain, complex, combined source-and-receiver wavefield at a first level;
• and
• applying, to the first and the second derived, second-domain, complex, combined source-and-receiver wavefields at the first level, a propagation operator that propagates one of the first and the second second-domain, complex, combined source-and-receiver wavefields to a corresponding derived, second-domain, complex, combined source-and-receiver wavefield at a next, second level.

Computer instructions, stored in a physical data-storage device, that control one or more processors to:

• receive or generate a first and a second derived, second-domain, complex, combined source-and-receiver wavefield at a first level;
• and
• apply, to the first and the second derived, second-domain, complex, combined source-and-receiver wavefields at the first level, a propagation operator that propagates one of the first and the second second-domain, complex, combined source-and-receiver wavefields to a corresponding derived, second-domain, complex, combined source-and-receiver wavefield at a next, second level.