Kirchhoff migration using eikonal-based computation of traveltime source-derivatives

Conclusion

We have shown an application of computing traveltime source-derivatives in Kirchhoff migration. For first-arrivals, a cubic Hermite traveltime interpolation using the first-order source-derivatives speeds up computation and reduces storage without noticeably sacrificing accuracy. Anti-aliasing is another direct application of traveltime source-derivatives that can be easily incorporated into Kirchhoff migration.

Generalization of the method to 3D is straightforward. The computed derivative attributes may benefit other areas besides the kinematic-only Kirchhoff migration shown in this paper. An extension to multi-arrival traveltimes needs further investigation.