Method of processing data obtained from seismic prospecting

A method of processing data obtained from seismic prospecting of an earth formation, comprising the steps of:

• obtaining data representing a multicomponent seismic signal from a multicomponent seismic receiver at a receiver location in an earth formation, in response to transmitting seismic waves into the earth formation;
• performing a wave-equation migration of the multicomponent seismic signal to obtain a seismic image of the earth formation, wherein the polarization of the seismic wave at the receiver location is taken into account;
• wherein:
• the step of performing a wave-equation migration comprises:
• a) obtaining a velocity model of the earth formation;
• b) determining, using the velocity model, a wave field generated by a dipole source at the receiver location, for a plurality of orientations of the dipole source, to obtain a plurality of source field components;
• c) determining, using the velocity model and the multicomponent seismic signal, a plurality of back-propagated wave field components;
• d) obtaining the seismic image from the multicomponent source field and the plurality of back-propagated wave field components;
• the source field components and the back-propagated wave field components each relate to particular spatial dimension;
• and
• the seismic image value at a point in the earth formation is calculated from a sum of products of the source field component for a particular source orientation and the complex conjugated back propagated wave field component for the corresponding spatial dimension, summed over a plurality of spatial dimensions;
• wherein the multidimensional source field and the multidimensional back-propagated wave field both have components in a plurality of spatial dimensions, and wherein a seismic noise image value at a point in the earth formation is calculated from a difference of products, wherein each product is calculated from a source field component and a different complex conjugated back propagated wave field component.