Time migration diffraction imaging systems and methods

A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoding instructions which, when executed by a computer system cause the computer system to:

• employ a seismic scaling velocity to scale a vertical traveltime corresponding to a subsurface seismic event of a seismic trace to generate a pseudo-depth characterizing the subsurface seismic event;
• determine a specularity value for the subsurface seismic event according to the pseudo-depth;
• determine a contribution weight for a seismic trace amplitude of the subsurface seismic event according to the specularity value;
• and
• perform a time migration to generate a diffraction image according to a weighted sum of seismic trace amplitudes, the weighted sum including the seismic trace amplitude of the subsurface seismic event weighted by the contribution weight, wherein the weighted sum attenuates a contribution of specular events relative to diffraction events, wherein the diffraction image highlights diffractors in a subsurface volume characterized by the subsurface seismic event.

A computer system comprising at least one processor programmed to:

• employ a seismic scaling velocity to scale a vertical traveltime corresponding to a subsurface seismic event of a seismic trace to generate a pseudo-depth characterizing the subsurface seismic event;
• determine a specularity value for the subsurface seismic event according to the pseudo-depth;
• determine a contribution weight for a seismic trace amplitude of the subsurface seismic event according to the specularity value;
• and
• perform a time migration to generate a diffraction image according to a weighted sum of seismic trace amplitudes, the weighted sum including the seismic trace amplitude of the subsurface seismic event weighted by the contribution weight, wherein the weighted sum attenuates a contribution of specular events relative to diffraction events, wherein the diffraction image highlights diffractors in a subsurface volume characterized by the subsurface seismic event.