On standard and optimal designs of industrial-scale 2-D seismic surveys
Geophysical Journal International Jun
The principal aim of performing a survey or experiment is to maximize the desired information within a data set by minimizing the post-survey uncertainty on the ranges of the model parameter values. Using Bayesian, non-linear, statistical experimental design (SED) methods we show how industrial scale amplitude variations with offset (AVO) surveys can be constructed to maximize the information content contained in AVO crossplots, the principal source of petrophysical information from seismic surveys. The design method allows offset dependent errors, previously not allowed in non-linear geoscientific SED methods. The method is applied to a single common-midpoint gather. The results show that the optimal design is highly dependent on the range