Simultaneous multi-vintage time-lapse full waveform inversion

A method for inversion of multi-vintage seismic data, the method comprising:

• obtaining seismic data of a subsurface structure for a plurality of vintages;
• generating an initial earth model of the subsurface structure for each one of the plurality of vintages;
• defining a cost function comprising a model norm term for each pair of vintages selected from at least three vintages of seismic data, each model norm term comprising a difference norm between earth models for a given pair of vintages;
• and
• adjusting the earth models for the at least three vintages to drive the cost function to a minimum and to produce updated earth models for the subsurface structure for the at least three vintages.

A computing system for inversion of multi-vintage seismic data, the computing system comprising:

• a communication module to obtain seismic data of a subsurface structure for a plurality of vintages;
• and
• a processer in communication with the communication module and configured to:
• generate an initial earth model of the subsurface structure for each one of the plurality of vintages;
• define a cost function comprising a data norm term comprising for at least one pair of vintages of seismic data a difference norm between a difference in obtained seismic for the at least one pair of vintages and a difference in modeled seismic data for the at least one pair of vintages;
• and
• adjust the earth models for the at least one pair of vintages to drive the cost function to a minimum and to produce updated earth models for the subsurface structure for the at least one pair of vintages.