Efficient Structure-Oriented Filter-Edge Preserving (SOF-EP) Method using the Corner Response

Abstract

To interpret the seismic image precisely, random noises should be suppressed and the continuity of the image should be enhanced by using the appropriate smoothing techniques. Structure-Oriented Filter-Edge Preserving (SOF-EP) technique is one of the methods, that have been actively researched and used until now, to efficiently smooth seismic data while preserving the continuity of signal. This technique is based on the principle that diffusion occurs from large amplitude to small one. In a continuous structure such as a horizontal layer, diffusion or smoothing is operated along the layer, thereby increasing the continuity of layers and eliminating random noise. In addition, diffusion or smoothing across boundaries at discontinuous structures such as faults can be avoided by employing the continuity decision factor. Accordingly, the precision of the smoothing technique can be improved. However, in the case of the structure-oriented semblance technique, which has been used to calculate the continuity factor, it takes lots of time depending on the size of the filter and data. In this study, we first implemented the SOF-EP method and confirmed its effectiveness by applying it step by step to the field data. Next, we proposed and applied the corner response method which can efficiently calculate the continuity decision factor instead of structure-oriented semblance. As a result, we could confirm that the computation time can be reduced by about 6,000 times or more by applying the corner response method.