Processing microseismic data

Abstract

A method of processing microseismic data obtained by a plurality of receivers. The method includes identifying a plurality of subsets of the microseismic data, wherein each subset of the microseismic data corresponds, respectively, to a microseismic event occurring underground at a known source location. The method also includes, for each combination of source location and receiver: determining a travel-time adjustment based on a spatial relationship between the source location and the receiver; and applying the travel-time adjustment to a waveform in a subset of the microseismic data that corresponds to the combination of source location and receiver. The method also includes combining the adjusted subsets of microseismic data to form composite microseismic data. The composite microseismic data may have a higher signal to noise ratio compared with the individual subsets of microseismic data, and as such, may be useful in determining a model that describes one or more properties relating to the propagation of elastic waves from at least one source location to a plurality of receivers, e.g. a static model or total travel-time model.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.