ISSN 1069-3513, Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth, 2008, Vol. 44, No. 12, pp. 10021017.

Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2008. Original Russian Text I.Ya. Chebotareva, A.F. Kushnir, M.V. Rozhkov, 2008, published in Fizika Zemli, 2008, No. 12, pp. 6582.

Elimination of High-Amplitude Noise during Passive Monitoring of Hydrocarbon Deposits by the Emission Tomography Method
I. Ya. Chebotarevaa, A. F. Kushnirb, and M. V. Rozhkovc
a Institute b International

of Oil and Gas Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Gubkina 3, Moscow, 117701 Russia Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Varshavskoe sh. 79, korp. 2, Moscow, 113556 Russia c SYNAPSE Science Center (SSC), pr. Vernadskogo 101/1, Suite 303, Moscow, 119526 Russia
Received November 12, 2007

AbstractEmission tomography used in passive seismic monitoring of hydrocarbon deposits enables regular inspection of development of hydraulic fracturing and relaxation processes in volumes of fracturing, tracing of uid migration paths, redistribution of stresses due to eld development accompanied by seismic emission from volumes of structural defects and stress concentration, and localization of fractured and faulted structures from emission and scattering data. Intensive man-made seismic noise in the areas of oil eld development produces a strong screening effect in identication of weak deep seismic sources. On the basis of experiments with simulated and real data of surface seismic arrays in regions of oil deposits in Western Siberia (carried out in the framework of the passive monitoring program of the SYNAPSE Science Center), it is shown that the use of algorithms of adaptive optimal and rejection spatial ltering with the estimation of the spectral density matrix of multichannel observations in the framework of multivariate autoregressive-moving average modeling is effective for eliminating the inuence of anthropogenic noise and revealing (in oil production areas) both deep seismic sources supposedly active in scattering regions of the lower part of the sedimentary cover and the crystalline basement. The projection of the scattering regions onto the horizontal plane correlates well with the position of faults in the area of in situ observations. PACS numbers: 91.30.Jk DOI: 10.1134/S1069351308120033

INTRODUCTION Emission tomography has been widely used in seismology for reconstruction of the distribution of local heterogeneities and monitoring of seismic activity [Nikolaev et al., 1986; Aleksandrov and Rykunov, 1992; Arnason and Flovenz, 1992; Furumoto et al., 1992; Shubik and Ermakov, 1997; Tchebotareva and Nikolaev, 1998; Chouet et al., 1999; Tchebotareva et al., 2000; Kugaenko et al., 2004]. Emission tomography has also been applied in oil pool development for monitoring of induced seismicity (localization of weak and microearthquake sources) and diagnostic imaging of formation hydrofractures with the help of deep borehole observations [Aleksandrov and Mirzoev, 1997; Aleksandrov et al., 2005]. Weakened crustal volumes, such as fault zones, large fractures, interfaces of blocks, and porous and fractured reservoirs, radiate seismic noise during their formation and subsequent development under the inuence of variations of tectonic and tidal stresses. This noise is generated by growth of cracks and friction of fault walls on different scales of a fractured structure. These factors cause constant coherent seismic emission characterized by a noiselike waveform whose power spectrum is controlled by processes in a weakened

zone. This radiation as recorded on the surface is comparable in intensity with background microseismic vibrations generally possessing an incoherent structure. In development of oil and gas elds, strong variations in of the stress state of the medium associated with hydraulic fracturing and stress relaxation in the fracture formation also lead to seismic coherent emissive radiation from zones of structural defects and stress concentration. A coherent seismic emission is also generated in the process of uid migration through percolation channels and pulsations of related gas accumulations. Seismic tomography, applied to localization of deep sources of coherent seismic emission, is an effective and practically convenient tool for monitoring of the dynamic state of the medium and detection of deep local structures. Using this method, a 3-D image of sources of weak seismic radiation can be reconstructed in the form of a cloud lling the radiating region of the medium and the intensity and spectral composition of the radiation can be estimated. Seismic emission tomography is effective for localizing not only active sources of a coherent seismic signal, such as local earthquakes, natural and anthropogenic surface sources, and deep sources of seismic

1002

ELIMINATION OF HIGH-AMPLITUDE NOISE

1003

emission from the regions of structural defects and stress concentration (passive monitoring), but also zones of intense scattering of seismic signals propagating from earthquakes and explosions and related to contrasting velocity inhomogeneities and ruptures of the medium (diffraction emission tomography). Seismic noise records obtained by a 1-D (prole), 2-D, or 3-D array of stations are used as initial data in passive monitoring, and coda records of signals from explosions or earthquakes are used as input information in diffraction emission tomography. Implementation of the emission tomography method implies that, at each sampling point of a 3-D grid, delay times of a noiselike waveform of seismic emission are calculated according to the accepted velocity structure and, using these results, the geophone array is tuned for amplication of the signal from the sampling point. Then with the help of algorithms implementing emission tomography in the time domain [Nikolaev et al., 1986; Tchebotareva et al., 2000], the energy of seismic records of the geophone array is accumulated over channels and with time. A 3-D subsurface image was calculated in terms of a coherent quadratic measure. If diffuse seismic noise is recorded, the reconstructed image of the medium has a uniform brightness distribution. In the presence of a localized seismic emission source, a bright spot appears in the image, whose position points to the source location in the medium. Given a weak signal, the numerical value of the coherent quadratic measure at the source localization point is, accurate to an additive constant, the product of the number of channels and the signal/noise energy ratio at the surface [Tchebotareva et al., 2000]. In the presence of additive diffuse seismic noise, the uctuation value of the coherent quadratic measure at points outside the source decreases with an increase in the accumulation time of the signal [Tchebotareva et al., 2000]; i.e., an increase in the accumulation time makes the method more sensitive. The seismic wave eld recorded in areas of commercial hydrocarbon deposits contains strong coherent noise caused by surface anthropogenic sources. In the case of borehole observations with deeply mounted recording instruments, the inuence of this surface noise can be substantially reduced. However, if recording instruments are installed on the surface or at small depth (up to 10 m), anthropogenic noise can have a strong detrimental effect on the results, masking a weak endogenous seismic signal, and even an increase in the accumulation time of such a signal does not improve the situation because the noise is coherent but not diffuse. On the other hand, deep (drilling tools) and powerful surface anthropogenic sources create a seismic illumination effect that can be used for identication of velocity inhomogeneities, fractures, and faults from data on the scattered wave eld generated by these sources.
IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH Vol. 44

The analysis of seismic signals recorded in oil provinces of Western Siberia by geophones at shallow depths or on the surface shows that wave elds in such areas have a very complex wave structure including a low velocity component in addition to longitudinal and transverse waves. If a wave eld is a mixture of several wave modes, imaging of the medium with a given wave mode implies that the remaining wave modes are noises. If three-component records are used, such noises can be suppressed rather efciently with the help of emission tomography algorithms, after which the geophone array can be tuned to the polarization of the selected wave mode. This is impossible if only vertical instruments are used. In this case, reconstructed images of real sources of the chosen wave mode will be superimposed by false defocused and biased images of sources of the remaining wave modes. Depending on relations between velocities and intensities of seismic emission of different wave modes and parameters of the recording array, the image distortion can be so strong that the desired sources of endogenous emission will be unrecognizable against the background of intense noise-related trails. The presently existing seismic three-component geophones are very sensitive to installation conditions or are extremely expensive, which impedes their utilization in mobile recording systems. Therefore, in practice one has to use recording systems with vertical geophones. In order to ensure a successful analysis of eld data for the purpose of monitoring of weak endogenous seismic emission, efcient methods should be developed and used in order to eliminate the inuence of intense surface or deep sources of coherent noises. ADAPTIVE OPTIMAL AND REJECTION SPATIAL FILTERING In seismology, for seismic signals that are masked by strong coherent noises, methods of statistical analysis of multivariate stationary time series have been developed to synthesize statistically optimal algorithms of adaptive and band-elimination multichannel (spatial) ltering and adaptive spatial spectral analysis [Kushnir and Mostovoi, 1990]. On the basis of experiments with the model and real data of small aperture seismic arrays [Kushnir and Lapshin, 1997], it was shown that the application of the aforementioned statistically optimal adaptive algorithms to analysis of records of remote earthquakes and nuclear explosions ensures accurate determination of the time function of the signal seismic wave and the direction of its arrival to the array with an appreciably smaller signal/noise ratio compared to traditionally used algorithms. This paper presents results of application of the optimal methods of rejection and adaptive spatial ltering and spatial spectral analysis to elimination of the strong coherent noise inuence in seismic emission tomography. When applied to emission tomography, computational algorithms had to be modied and additionally
No. 12 2008

1004

CHEBOTAREVA et al.

tested. This was caused not only by a large number of seismic channels and transition to a 3-D dense scanning grid (which inuenced the algorithm stability and computation accuracy) but also by the fact that some results obtained for plane waves were found to be invalid for the case of signals from near sources. For example, as was shown in [Kushnir and Lapshin, 1997], the high resolution spatial spectral analysis [Capon, 1969] of plane waves yields sharper peaks for signal arrival directions and weak spurious maximums as compared with the low resolution spectral analysis; i.e., the high resolution method is undoubtedly preferable. However, it was found that, in the case of real records containing signals from near surface sources, the high resolution method actually gives localized high amplitude peaks for surface sources but, at a depth, it brings about a brighter trail masking weak deep sources more intensively compared to the low resolution method. Thus, in reconstructing 3-D seismic emission images, the traditional methods of high resolution spatial spectral analysis cannot be considered as preferable, particularly because they give ratios of peak values at seismic source localization points that do not coincide with ratios of signal intensities and can be very strongly distorted depending on the geometry of the seismic array and conguration of sources. The latter effect is related to the fact that functionals used in high resolution methods are not consistent estimates of the spatial spectral density. If intense coherent noise is present in seismic records and the source position and the noise propagation velocity are known, it is appropriate to use a rejecting spatial lter. A spatial lter r(f) = (r1(f), , rm(f)) is a multichannel lter transforming m input traces x(f) = (x1(f), , xm(f))T (T is the transposition sign) that are Fourier transforms of observations at a array of geophones into the scalar trace y(f) using the relation y(f)= r*(f)x(f), (1) where f is the frequency and * is the sign of Hermitian conjugation. The rejection spatial lter is a lter that suppresses coherent noises generated by localized sources whose positions are known and extracts the useful coherent signal generated by the source at the focusing point of the array. Theoretically, the lter suppresses completely such noises if their number is less than the number m of array geophones and diffuse noise is absent in observations. A vector frequency characteristic of the rejection spatial lter that ensures the maximum output signal/noise ratio (in the presence of diffuse noise) can be written as r r ( f ) = [ h * ( f )B ( f ) ]/ [ h * ( f )B ( f )h s ( f ) ] s s
1/2

phones by the seismic signal propagating from the array focusing point with the coordinates rs = (xs, ys, zs)T and B(f) is the complex frequency-dependent matrix of the rejection spatial lter. In the case of a single source of coherent noise, the matrix takes the form * * B ( f ) = [ I h n ( f )h n ( f ) h n ( f )h n ( f ) ], (3) where I is the unit matrix and hn(f) = (exp{i2fk(rn)}, k = 1, , m) is determined by the time delays k(rn) of the coherent noise generated by the source with the known coordinates rn while propagating between the rst and the kth geophone of the array. The formula for the frequency-dependent matrix of the rejection spatial lter that suppresses coherent noises generated by several active sources has a more complex form and is not presented here but can be found in [Kushnir and Mostovoi, 1990]. If information on the source coordinates of coherent noises is absent or the noise is generated by numerous sources of coherent noises and diffuse seismic noise, it is appropriate to apply an adaptive optimal spatial lter ensuring a maximum output signal/noise ratio (and whitening of the residual noise):
1/2 1 1 * * r a ( f ) = [ h s ( f )F n ( f ) ]/ [ h s ( f )F n ( f )h s ( f ) ] , (4)

1 where F n ( f ) is the estimate of the inverse complex matrix of the noise spectral density. As is shown in [Kushnir and Mostovoi, 1990], if 1 F n ( f ) in (4) coincides with the actual inverse matrix of the array noise spectral density F n ( f ) , the number of coherent noise sources is less than m, and the intensity of diffuse noise tends to zero, then the efciency of suppression of coherent noises by adaptive multichannel lter (4) approaches the efciency of their suppression by rejection spatial lter (3). The vector frequency characteristic of the simplest (beamforming) spatial lter is
1

r b ( f ) = h * ( f )/ ( h * ( f )h s ( f ) ) = h * ( f )/m, s s s

(5)

where m is the number of geophones in the array. The latter type of lter is basic in the algorithm of traditional low resolution spatial spectral analysis: the + estimate of the signal source coordinates r s corresponds to the maximum of the functional Pb ( r ) =
f max

r* ( f , r )x ( f )
f min x s

f max

(6)

(2)

where hs(f) = (exp{i2fk(rs)}, k = 1, , m, is the column vector of the phase delays determined by the time delays k(rs) acquired between the rst and kth geo-

h* ( f , r )D ( f )h ( f , r ),
s f min

where Dx(f) = x(f)x*(f) is the matrix periodogram, that is, the simplest (nonsmoothed) estimate of the spectral
Vol. 44 No. 12 2008

IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH

ELIMINATION OF HIGH-AMPLITUDE NOISE

1005

density matrix of the multichannel signal x(t) at the output of a group, where x(t) is the discrete Fourier transformation from x(t). It is easy to show, using the Parseval theorem, that functional (6) is equivalent (up to a normalizing factor) to the Semblance functional, used for implementation of the emission tomography algorithms for a singlecomponent seismic array in the time domain: x i ( t j i ( r ) ) j=1 i=1 -, S ( r ) = -----------------------------------------------------T K

ground of coherent noise, we obtain that the estimate of is provided by the maximum of the functional Pr ( r ) =
f max

f min

h* ( f , r )B ( f )x ( f ) ---------------------------------------------------- . h* ( f , r )B ( f )h ( f , r )
2

(9)

(7)

2 xi ( t j

i ( r ) )

j = 1i = 1

where xi(tj) is the value of the signal recorded by the ith geophone at the time moment tj and i(r) is the time delay of the signal arriving at the ith geophone from the sampled point with the coordinates r. Consequently, calculating the functionals Pb(r) and S(r) from records of a 3-D spatial sampling network in the framework of a known velocity structure, we should obtain identical seismic emission images in which brightness maximums (maximums of the functionals Pb(r) and S(r)) correspond to the position of seismic sources. As is shown in [Kushnir, 1997], the statistically optimal estimate r s of the source coordinates of a seismic signal (with a completely unknown waveform) recorded by a array of vertical geophones and masked by random stationary seismic noise with the complex matrix of the spectral density Fn(f) corresponds to the maximum of the functional h* ( f , r )F n ( f )x ( f ) -------------------------------------------------------- , Pa ( r ) = 1 h* ( f , r )F n ( f )h ( f , r ) f min

Adaptive optimal and rejection spatial ltering (in the form of functionals (8) and (9)) is well suited for localizing weak deep seismic sources from data of surface seismic arrays in the presence of intense coherent noises. However, the reconstruction of 3-D seismic emission images of the medium with the use of formulas (8) and (9) requires a computation time that is more than one order of magnitude larger compared to images reconstructed without ltering by formula (7) with the realization in the time domain. Functionals (8) and (9) can be applied in practice only with the use of multiprocessor computers or simplied calculation schemes. We used a simplied calculation scheme described below. Formula (8) can be rewritten in an equivalent form: Pa ( r ) =
f max

f min

h*( f , r)F n ( f )x( f )x*( f )F n ( f )h( f , r) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. 1 h* ( f , r )F n ( f )h ( f , r )

(10)

Assume that the frequency range under consideration (fmax, fmin) is so narrow that variations in the functions h(f, r) and F n (f) in this range can be neglected. Then, formula (10) can be rewritten in the form Pa ( r ) h*( f 0, r)F n ( f 0)
1 1

f max

f max

(11) 1 x( f )x*( f ) F n ( f 0)h( f 0, r)

(8)

min = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ , 1 h* ( f 0, r )F n ( f 0 )h ( f 0, r )

where h(f, r) = (exp{i2fk(r)}, k = 1, , m) is the column vector of phase delays determined by the time delays k(r) acquired between the rst and kth geophones by the seismic signal propagating from the array focusing point with the coordinates rs. Comparison of expressions (4) and (8) shows that the functional Pa(r) is equal to the intensity of the output signal of the adaptive optimal spatial lter tuned for the extraction of a signal that propagates from the point with the coordinates r. This means that the adaptive optimal spatial lter is the basic spatial lter for the construction of functional (8). Using rejection spatial (2) as the basic lter in constructing the functional for estimation of the source coordinates r s of a coherent signal against the backIZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH Vol. 44

where f0 is the central frequency of the frequency range (fmax, fmin) analyzed. The expression in the brackets is the matrix periodogram of the recorded multichannel data of the array summed over frequencies of this range. It can be replaced with the statistically more sub stantiated value (fmax fmin) F x ( f 0 ) , where F x ( f ) is a smoothed estimate of the matrix power spectrum density of the array multichannel data x(t) (under the assumption that this estimate varies weakly within the frequency range analyzed). In this case, we obtain the following approximation for functional (8): 1 1 h*( f 0, r)F n ( f 0)F x ( f 0 )F n ( f 0)h( f 0, r) P a ( r ) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 (12) h* ( f 0, r )F n ( f 0 )h ( f 0, r ) ( f max f min ).
No. 12 2008

1006

CHEBOTAREVA et al.

Analogously, the approximation formula obtained for functional (9) by applying band-elimination multichannel lter (2) is h*( f 0, r)B( f 0)F x ( f 0 )B( f 0)h( f 0, r) P r ( r ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------h* ( f 0, r )B ( f 0 )h ( f 0, r ) ( f max f min ), and, using the simplest spatial lter (5), functional (6) can be approximated by the formula P b ( r ) h* ( f 0, r )F x ( f 0 )h ( f 0 r ) . (14) (13)

In broadband analysis, formulas (12), (13), and (14) are used for calculation of a set of narrowband source images to be summed. Algorithms implementing these approximation formulas reduce the computation time by more than two orders of magnitude with an insignicant distortion of source images, and this is illustrated below in the discussion of results of real data processing. A statistically reliable and computationally efcient estimate of the spectral density matrix of array multichannel data can be obtained on the basis of the multivariate autoregressive-moving average (ARMA) model [Kushnir and Mostovoi, 1990]. The ARMA model of a vector time series x(t) = (x1(t), , xM(t))T, t Z, is a new time series y(t) = (y1(t), , yM(t))T satisfying the difference equation y(t ) =

were estimated from the rst p values of the sampling matrix correlation function of observations x(t), t = 1, , N, with the help of the computationally efficient multidimensional LevinsonDurbin procedure [Kushnir and Mostovoi, 1990], and estimates of the moving average coefcients B (k), k = 0, , m, were set equal to B(k) = Cz(k)w(k), where Cz(k) are the sampling matrix autocorrelations of the preliminarily whitened time series p z(t) = A ( k ) x(t k), A (0) = I, and w(k) = w(k), k=0 w(k) = 1 k/(q 1) q > k > 0 are the coefficients of the Bartlett time window. The choice of the frequency step for calculating functionals (12), (13), and (14) in the broadband analysis of the array data x(t), t = 1, , N, was determined by the orders p and q of the corresponding ARMA model, which were used for the estimation of the spectral density matrix of observations x(t). The pseudo-bending method proposed in [Um and Thurber, 1987] implemented in our work as a computer program was used for seismic ray tracing and calculation of time delays. In this approach, a preset rst approximation of a ray trace connecting source and receiver points is iteratively perturbed in such a way as to satisfy the Fermat principle. For gradient velocity structures, this method is very efcient, enabling 3-D seismic ray tracing.

A ( l )y ( t l ) + B ( l )e ( t l ),
l=1 l=0

(15)

t Z, where Z is a set of whole numbers; e(t) = (e1(t), , em(t))T, ek(t), k = 1, , m, are random variables that are independent for all k and t and have zero means and unit variances; and A(l), l = 1, , p, and B(l), l = 0, , q, are m m matrix parameters of autoregression and moving average, respectively, whose rst p + q + 1 values of the matrix covariance function are the same as those in time series x(t). The inverse spectral density matrix of the ARMA model y(t) has the form F1(f) = P(f)Q1(f)P*(f), where P(f) = (16) / f s ) , Q(f) =

A(0) = I is the unit matrix, and fs is the sampling frequency of the initial time series x(t). Estimates F n ( f ) of the inverse spectral density matrix of noises at geophone outputs that were used in experiments with model and real data of 2-D arrays described below had structure (16), i.e., corresponded to ARMA models of multichannel observations x(t), t = 1, , N. The autoregression coefficients A (k), k = 1, , m,
1

q B ( k ) exp(i2kf/fs), k=0

p A ( k ) exp ( i2kf k=0

NUMERICAL MODELING In this section, we present results of numerical modeling illustrating the efciency of the use of rejection and adaptive optimal spatial ltering in emission tomography algorithms. The modeling used a real geometry of a seismic geophone array (Fig. 5). The model wave velocities also had real values, and a frequency range of 1030 Hz is used. Results obtained by the method of rejection spatial ltering are shown in Fig. 1. The wave eld generated in the model is a result of the superposition of weak random noise uncorrelated between channels and signals from four seismic sources with the coordinates in kilometers (1, 1), (1, 1), (1, 1), and (1, 1). The time functions of signals represent an uncorrelated random process. The emission intensities are chosen in such a way that the image brightness values at the source points coincide. Figure 1a displays the seismic emission image of the model wave eld calculated with the help of functional (14) with the summation over a set of frequencies within a range of 1030 Hz. The (1, 1) source is farther from the center of the geophone array compared to the three other sources. As a result, a trail of larger values is observed near the source, in the vicinity of a sharp peak. In Fig. 1a, this source is the third from the right. Evidently, brightness maximums with such intense and extended trails are more difcult to eliminate compared to well localized maximums. NevertheVol. 44 No. 12 2008

IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH

ELIMINATION OF HIGH-AMPLITUDE NOISE (a) 1.0

1007

0 3.1 1.6 0 NS 0 EW 3.1

1.6

3.1 (b)

3.1

1.0

0 3.1 3.1 1.6 0 NS 1.6 3.1 (c) 3.1 0 EW

1.0

0 3.1 3.1 1.6 0 NS 1.6 0 3.1 3.1 EW

Fig. 1. Numerical modeling: (a) seismic emission image of four surface sources of a seismic noise signal having the same intensity; (b) seismic emission image obtained with the help of rejection spatial ltering suppressing one of the sources; (c) seismic emission image obtained with the help of rejection ltering simultaneously suppressing two sources.

less, as seen from Fig. 1b, the rejection spatial ltering (formula (13)) removes completely the maximum with the intense trail. Figure 1c illustrates successful suppression of the (1, 1) and (1, 1) sources with the help of the rejection spatial ltering. Results of application of the adaptive optimal spatial ltering are shown in Fig. 2. The input data were obtained, as before, by superposition of the array records from four noise sources with the coordinates in
IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH Vol. 44

kilometers (1, 1), (1, 1), (1, 1), (1, 1) and from diffuse noise. Emission intensities of three sources are such that the values of the corresponding maximums are identical, while the fourth, (1, 1) source modeling coherent noise is stronger and its maximum four times larger compared to the other three sources. A seismic emission image of the model wave eld calculated with the help of functional (14) and the summation over frequencies in the range 1030 Hz is shown in Fig. 2a. To tune the adaptive optimal spatial lter to pure noise,
No. 12 2008

1008

CHEBOTAREVA et al. (a) 1.0

0 3.1 1.6 0 NS 1.6 3.1 (b) 3.1 0 3.1 EW

1.0

0 3.1 3.1 1.6 0 NS 1.6 0 3.1 (c) 1.0 3.1 EW

0 3.1 1.6 0 NS 1.6 3.1 3.1 0 EW 3.1

Fig. 2. Numerical modeling: (a) seismic emission image of four surface sources of a noise seismic signal one of which has an intensity four times higher than the intensity of the three other sources; (b, c) seismic emission image obtained with the help of the optimal adaptive spatial ltering, with the lter being adapted to (b) the pure signal of the most intense source to be suppressed and (c) the total wave eld produced by all four sources having the same relative intensities as in Fig. 2a.

i.e., to calculate the spectral density matrix of noises, a wave eld was generated by means of the superposition of the noise signal from the (1, 1) point and weak diffuse noise. As seen from the results of the application of the adaptive optimal spatial ltering (formula (12)) shown in Fig. 2b, the noise-related maximum is completely eliminated from the seismic emission image: only the three weak maximums of the useful signals remain. Real wave eld records more often contain, rather than pure coherent noise, a mixture of noise and a use-

ful signal that should be extracted. In this case, the selfadaptation property of the optimal spatial lter is useful [Kushnir and Mostovoi, 1990]: in order to suppress coherent noise, adaptation of the lter can be performed by using not only records of pure noise but also the mixture of noise and a useful signal, and, moreover, a larger difference between the intensities of noise and the useful signal enhances the noise suppression efciency. With a successful choice of moving average autoregression model parameters, the coherent noise can be suppressed no less efciently than in the case of
Vol. 44 No. 12 2008

IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH

ELIMINATION OF HIGH-AMPLITUDE NOISE

1009

Fig. 3. Image of a wellhead and the adjacent noisy section of the well in the process of drill string pulling out. The size of the cubic frame is 1.2 km.

Fig. 4. Image of a drill tool during horizontal drilling at a depth of 2 km. The size of the cubic frame is 1.2 km.

tuning to pure noise. Figure 2c displays a result of the adaptive spatial ltering application, with the lter tuned to the input wave eld whose seismic emission image is shown in Fig. 2a. As is readily seen, the peak corresponding to intense noise is strongly weakened, and all four peaks are of nearly the same height. RESULTS OF REAL DATA TREATMENT We used experimental data obtained in the framework of joint projects of the SSC and the Ugra Research Institute of Information Technologies (URIIT), Khanty-Mansiisk, on passive monitoring of hydrocarbon deposits. We performed a few in situ tests in order to make sure that the quality of the observation systems in use, numerical algorithms of data processing, recording technology, and analysis of seismic data provide authentic images of in situ seismic signal sources and brightness maximums. We used seismic records obtained in a well drilled in an oil eld of Western Siberia. Seismic emission was recorded by a seismic array consisting of 20 vertical geophones located at a shallow depth and distributed almost uniformly over a 1 1-km2 area. Seismic emission image of the wellhead. A wellhead is a seismic source in the territory of oil and gas eld development that is easily located on the surface, and the well is directed vertically downward from it. A difculty involved in the localization of this surface source by means of passive monitoring is that a large number of other anthropogenic sources are located on the surface and are generally more intense than the seismic signal from the wellhead. Numerous surface
IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH Vol. 44

sources produce a spatial imagery background masking the wellhead image. A good quality of the wellhead image obtained with P and S waves can be attained with the additional seismic illumination associated with the pulling out of the drill string. A 3-D image of the wellhead and adjacent noisy upper section of the well (the upper edge of the cube is the free surface) is shown in Fig. 3. For the reconstruction of the seismic emission image, functional (7) was used to perform calculations in the time domain with the preliminary ltering of multichannel data of the array within a range of 10 30 Hz. The noisy well section visible in the gure is about 500 m long. The image position of the wellhead coincides with its GPS coordinates accurate to the 25-m spacing of the sampling grid. An additional bright spot is seen at the base of the cube near its frontal face. Its origin was not examined in detail, but it may be due to the reection of the anthropogenic signal from deep structures. Seismic emission image of the drilling tool. The second test was the reconstruction of the seismic emission image of a drilling tool in a horizontal well at a depth of 2 km. Results of this test are shown in Fig. 4. The wave eld recording system described above was used. A distinct image of the working drill was obtained in a range of 1020 Hz in its operation time intervals. At higher frequencies of emission, image reconstruction results are not so stable and their quality is poorer. Numerical modeling showed this is mainly due to insufcient determination accuracy of geophone coordinates. An increase in the accuracy of localization of recording instruments can radically change the result, which can be achieved with the use of modern methods and existing high-precision instruments, e.g., Trimble
No. 12 2008

1010

CHEBOTAREVA et al. 3
8

2
7 6 54 3 1 2

1 0 1 2 3

Fig. 5. Schematic layout of the eld observation area. The horizontal and vertical axes strike WE and NS, respectively. The triangles are geophones of the areal seismic array, the circles are wells, the solid lines are structure-controlling faults according to [Glukhmanchuk, 2004], and the numbers designate the wells.

instruments with measurements in accordance with the differential GPS technology in the rapid static regime. Numerical experiments demonstrated that the location accuracy of recording instruments should amount 12 m in a range of 1030 Hz and no worse than 0.5 m in a range of 3080 Hz. According to results of in situ tests, emission tomography provides images of weak seismic sources at depths of a few kilometers. The spatial location accuracy of images is a more complex problem. The degree of adequacy of the velocity structure, i.e., its conformity to the real 3-D velocity distribution, inuences the position of a seismic source image in the seismic emission imagery. A homogeneous velocity structure was used for the surface image reconstruction of the wellhead. The velocity value at the surface was chosen in such a way as to ensure maximal focusing of the surface source (a minimum spot size and maximum peak height). The real velocity distribution at the surface is very irregular but, because the distribution of geophones around the source was rather isotropic, the inuence of velocity inhomogeneities did not lead to signicant displacements of the image, so that its coordinates coincided with the real wellhead coordinates accurate to sampling grid spacing. In the case of drill tool localization, all geophones of the array were located on one side of the seismic emission source. The exact velocity distribution under the observation area was not known. We used a constant gradient velocity structure. The surface velocity was chosen in accordance with the previous test, and the gradient value was taken in such a way that the depth of the drill tool image coincided with the depth of the drill

tool obtained from inclinometer data. Under such conditions, the coordinates of drill tool images in different time intervals had a small random scatter but a signicant horizontal displacement with respect to inclinometer data. The horizontal displacement could be compensated by introducing a horizontal gradient or anisotropy into the velocity structure. The dependence of the coordinates of a deep source image on parameters of the velocity structure can be used for estimating these parameters. For example, in the case of observation systems with the orthogonal arrival direction of rays from the source, the velocity anisotropy of the medium can be assessed. Passive monitoring. To elaborate the methodology of removal of coherent noise in passive monitoring, we used records of continuous observations on the Lebyazhe commercial deposit in Western Siberia. We had records of two daily observation intervals separated by 10 days. A few wells were located in and near the area of observations and tapping of the oil bearing bed by two of them stimulated an intense oil inow. An analysis of the temporal variability of reconstructed deep source images and their relation to the eld development process are beyond the scope of the present paper, and we plan to present its results in future papers. Here we are concerned only with problems related to methods suitable for removing the effect of intense coherent noise in order to improve the quality of seismic emission imagery of deep sources. A schematic of the position of vertical geophones in the observation area is shown in Fig. 5. The total number of the geophones amounted to 60. They were mounted in wells of 57 m. Seismic signals was recorded continuously at a sampling frequency of 500 Hz. Records of about one-third of geophones proved unsuitable and were not used in the analysis. As a result, we analyzed records obtained with a array consisting of about 40 vertical geophones. The receiving channels were not preliminarily calibrated during eld work. We calibrated them with the help of vertically incident waves of a strong event recorded on the second day of observations. As seen from Fig. 5, the receiving array consists of two subgroups and is ~1.5 km long in the NE direction and ~4 km long in the NW direction. The square frame bounding in Fig. 5 the area of observations is a horizontal cross section of the volume in which sources of signals were reconstructed by the method of seismic emission tomography imagery. The center of the area with the coordinates (0, 0) coincides in position with the northernmost geophone of the southern subgroup. Structurecontrolling faults are shown in Fig. 5 in accordance with the map of comparing landforms, the synthetic strain eld of the horizon G, and the fault system of the Lebyazhe area given in [Glukhmanchuk, 2004]. The faults were delineated in conformity with two lakes and a river bed observable in a satellite photograph. Signal source images were constructed at depths from 0 to 6 km with a step of 0.125 km in a 6 6-km2 area on
Vol. 44 No. 12 2008

IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH

ELIMINATION OF HIGH-AMPLITUDE NOISE

1011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

Fig. 6. Examples of seismic records with intense coherent noise.

a grid with a spacing of 0.0625 km. In some cases, the images were calculated in a larger, 12.5 12.5-km2 area with a grid spacing of 0.125 km. The velocity structure in the region of eld work was unknown, but we had at our disposal a layered velocity structure of a similar deposit up to a depth of 3.1 km, and we chose it as a reference structure. The structure had too many layers (45) with velocities slowly varying with depth. To enhance the efciency of computational algorithms, we replaced the layered structure with a constant gradient structure. The chosen surface velocity had a value ensuring maximum focusing to surface sources (a minimum spot size and a maximum peak height), while the velocity at a depth of 3.1 km was set equal to the value assigned in the layered structure to the last layer, and these velocities determined the value of the gradient. The seismic records were subjected to preliminary 1030-Hz bandpass ltering. The lower bandpass frequency was selected under the condition that diffuse noise is uncorrelated between the nearest geophones, i.e., the wavelength of P waves does not exceed minimum distances between geophones. The upper band frequency is determined by the estimation accuracy of recording point coordinates.
IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH Vol. 44

Seismic records of the rst day of observations are complicated by intense noise in the form of periodically recurrent phases with a xed position of sources and a small apparent velocity (Fig. 6). Local maximums of amplitude of one of the phases recur with a period of about 20 s and their values sometimes strongly vary. This anthropogenic noise has a low frequency, its spectrum rapidly decays with a frequency increase, and its maximum lies beyond the lower bandpass of the recording instrument, i.e., below 4 Hz. We selected an optimal velocity of the phase at which the seismic emission surface source is best focused. This velocity is very low, about 0.20.3 km/s. The reconstruction of surface seismic emission images in a range of 1030 Hz reveals a distinct peak in the area of wells marked in Fig. 5 by numbers 1 and 2. To the east of the main maximum, an additional broad maximum observed in the gure is accompanied by a trail of smaller peaks (Fig. 7a). A change in the velocity within 0.20.3 km/s does not affect the position of the noisy area on the surface (Figs. 7b, 7c), and only relative amplitudes of the peaks vary. With a further increase in the velocity, images of the low velocity sources disappear. Numerical modeling showed that the noisy area to the east of the main maximum is not a spatial trail from sources pinNo. 12 2008

1012

CHEBOTAREVA et al. (a)

0.94

SN, km

SN, km

Fig. 7. Seismic emission image of a seismic wave eld with focusing to the Earths surface. (a, b) Reconstruction is carried out for a velocity of 0.3 km/s: (a) 3-D isometric representation with the vertical axis showing a coherent estimate used for calculating the brightness distribution in the image; (b) representation in the projection onto the southern vertical plane. (c) Southern vertical plane projection of the image reconstructed with a velocity of 0.25 km/s. IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH Vol. 44 No. 12 2008

, SN km

0 0.27 6.2 6.2 0 EW, km (b) 0.94 3.1

3.1

0.27 6.1 3.1 (c) 0.94 0 EW, km 3.1 6.2

0.27 6.1 3.1 0 EW, km 3.1 6.2

ELIMINATION OF HIGH-AMPLITUDE NOISE (a) (b) (c)

1013

X = 51

X = 51

X = 51

Fig. 8. Seismic emission images obtained from an initial S wave eld by different algorithms of emission tomography: (a) time domain, formula (7); (b) frequency domain, formula (6); (c) frequency domain approximate formula (14).

(a) 1.00

(b)

1.00

0.49 3.1 1.6 0 NS 1.6 3.1 3.1 3.1 0 EW 3.1 1.6 0 1.6 NS

0.24 3.1 0 EW

3.1

3.1

Fig. 9. Illustration of real data processing with the help of rejection spatial ltering (P waves). The top panels show 3-D isometric representations of the surface image intensity distribution. A coherent estimate used for calculating the image brightness distribution is plotted on the vertical axis. The bottom panels show 3-D images of sources of surface coherent noise and a spatial trail produced by them; the black zones are regions of maximum coherent estimates. (a) Seismic emission image obtained from the initial wave eld. (b) Results of application of the rejection spatial array ltering.

pointed by peak values and is likely to be a distributed source. The low velocity phase has a strong screening effect in the S wave reconstruction of the medium because of the closeness of their velocities (the S wave velocity near the surface is approximately 0.50.6 km/s). The low velocity phase and P wave surface sources produce such a strong disturbing effect that S wave sources on the surface cannot be located because the relative values of velocities and emission intensities of wave eld components are such that they give rise to a system of intense artifacts masking real S wave sources. We used
IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH Vol. 44

a complex 3-D image of the wave eld artifacts arising during the S wave reconstruction of a seismic emission image in order to gain a clear idea of the degree of similarity between results obtained by algorithms in the time and frequency domains implementing exact and approximate formulas (6), (7) and (14), respectively. As seen from Fig. 8, the main features of images remain generally unchanged, i.e., the use of approximate formulas (12)(14) does not distort signicantly results obtained with the help of exact formulas but reduces the computational time of data processing by hundreds of times.
No. 12 2008

1014 (a)

CHEBOTAREVA et al. (b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 10. Illustration of real data processing (P waves) with the help of adaptive spatial ltering: (a) seismic emission image obtained from an initial wave eld complicated by a recurring intense coherent phase; (b) seismic emission image obtained from an initial wave eld without a visible coherent phase; (c, d) results of the application of adaptive spatial ltering with the lter adapted to the time interval of signal stacking (c) and pure noise (d).

The P wave tomography reveals a few central intense sources located west and south of the observation area center (Fig. 9a). We used the rejection ltering in our attempts at reducing the effect of this surface noise. Numerical modeling showed that the rejection ltering is extremely efcient and does not introduce signicant distortions into the image if the position of a source to be eliminated and the signal velocity are well known. If at least one of the parameters is known, the second can be determined, for example, by the emission tomography technique. In our case, we knew neither the position of sources nor the velocity structure. The surface velocity was chosen under the condition of maximum focusing of the visible source images (a minimal bright spot size and the strongest intensity maximum). To estimate the source coordinates, we chose the position of observed local maximums in the image. The resulting system of ve sources of P waves made it possible to almost completely remove surface noise (Fig. 9b). The remaining strongly localized peak could not be removed by means of the suppression of P waves radiating from the area of the peak position. This means that the peak is not produced by the P wave signal prop-

agating from this point. Although the screening effect of the residual noise is still signicant, we did not go into the details inherent in the simultaneous estimation of coordinates of noise sources and velocities. In our case, this problem is a rather difcult problem. Taking into account that no information is available on parameters of possible noise sources, we thought it more appropriate to test the method of adaptive ltering. Results of the optimal adaptive spatial ltering of P and S waves are shown, respectively, in Figs. 10 and 11. The respective reconstructions of seismic emission images from the initial wave eld with a stacking time of 100 s are shown in Figs. 10a and 11a. The strongest surface sources are clearly visible in P waves, while a system of intense artifacts prevails in the 3-D brightness distribution of the seismic emission image obtained in S waves. As mentioned above, adaptive ltering enables tuning of the adaptive lter to pure noise or a mixture of a signal and noise. We tested and compared both variants. To specify pure noise, we chose a small time interval beyond the time interval used for the image reconstruction applied to a record with the highest noise amplitude, exceeding its usual maximum by a
Vol. 44 No. 12 2008

IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH

ELIMINATION OF HIGH-AMPLITUDE NOISE (a) (b)

1015

(c)

Fig. 11. Illustration of real data processing (S waves) by adaptive spatial ltering: (a) seismic emission image obtained from an initial wave eld complicated by a recurring intense coherent phase; (b) seismic emission image obtained from an initial wave eld without a visible coherent phase; (c) result obtained with the lter adapted to the time interval of signal stacking.

few times. Figures 10c and 10d present results of adaptive ltering in P waves, with the lter being adapted to the entire recorded emission and to pure noise, respectively. Comparing these images, we see that the lter adaptation to the entire recorded emission (Fig. 10c) yields a better result and the noise removal is more efcient, as is evident from the absence of the artifact present near the lower boundary of the volume studied in Fig. 10d. For comparison with the results of adaptive ltering, Figs. 10b and 11b show seismic emission images in P and S waves calculated for record segments in which the amplitude of coherent noise considerably drops and is scarcely seen. If seismic emission images are reconstructed from a record segment almost free of coherent noise, P wave endogenous sources are visible at the center of horizontal cross sections and to the west of the center (Fig. 10b). The seismic emission image obtained by optimal adaptive spatial ltering in P waves (Fig. 10c) is similar to Fig. 10b: the resolved endogenous sources are also located at the top of the image in the central and western parts of horizontal cross sections.
IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH Vol. 44

In order to detect weak deep sources of S waves, the sample time length of a record segment free of coherent noise is obviously insufcient because the intensity distribution of the seismic emission image is rather uniform (Fig. 11b). If S wave adaptive ltering is used (Fig. 11c), visible endogenous sources are located in central and western parts of horizontal cross sections but in a wider depth interval than in the case of P waves. Projections of the inferred emitting regions onto a horizontal area 6 6 km2 in size are shown in Figs. 12a and 12b for P and S waves, respectively. Analogous projections onto a larger area 12 12 km2 in size are shown in Figs. 12c and 12d. The centers of the larger and smaller projections coincide, and their corresponding boundaries are parallel. The spatial resolution of seismic emission imagery deteriorates with an increase in the distance of a source from the receiving array and in the emission wavelength. The twofold sizes of imagery areas (Figs.12c and 12d) are overly large: edge zones are resolved less reliably, particularly in the case of P waves; however, such geometric features as interNo. 12 2008

1016

CHEBOTAREVA et al.

(a)

(b)

explain why focusing of deep sources in S waves disappears with the elimination of intense anthropogenic noise (Fig. 11b). In the case of P waves, endogenous sources are distinguishable in the part of section corresponding to the middle and lower parts of the sedimentary cover. Noisy areas are visible both in the presence and in the absence of the most intense anthropogenic noise, which means that they are apparently active sources, rather than zones of seismic wave scattering alone. CONCLUSIONS Results of real data processing and numerical modeling showed that the rejection and optimal adaptive spatial ltering methods reduce the effect of intense coherent noise in passive seismic monitoring with recording at the Earths surface. Implementation of these methods with in terms of approximate formulas does not introduce signicant distortions in the nal result but decreases the time of computations by a few hundreds of times, enabling real-time use of coherent noise ltering techniques. Results of localization of deep sources revealed after removal of intense anthropogenic noise are preliminary. The use of P waves resolves noisy regions in the sedimentary cover in central and western parts of the volume studied, while S waves locate sources in the crystalline basement and sedimentary cover. Projections of the noisy regions onto the horizontal plane correlate with the position of major faults in the area of observations inferred by independent studies. The method of emission tomography was effectively applied to the localization of a drilling tool at a depth of 2 km from data of a surface recording network. The required time of computations is small enough to realize real-time monitoring of the drilling process. The determination accuracy of location of a drill and other deep sources is controlled by the accuracy of the accepted velocity structure. If the position of a source is known, emission tomography can be used to update parameters of the velocity structure using deviations of image coordinates from the actual position of the source. If the position of a deep source is unknown, the utilization of a recording system with the orthogonal direction of wave arrivals provides the possibility to assess the velocity anisotropy of the medium. The use of high frequencies imposes stronger constraints on the accuracy of the receiving array coordinate determination and the accepted velocity model; the accuracy of the latter can be estimated with the help of numerical modeling. If the accuracy requirements are not satised, reconstructed seismic emission images can be completely defocused.
Vol. 44 No. 12 2008

(c)

(d)
Fig. 12. Projection of noisy regions onto the horizontal plane (the center of the projection coincides with the origin of coordinates in the area of observations shown in Fig. 5): (a, b) the square side size is 6 km; (c, d) the square side size is 12 km; (a, c) reconstruction using P wave velocities; (b, d) reconstruction using S wave velocities.

sections of noisy zones generally extending EW and NS are better resolved. The structure of the fractured reservoir in the region of seismological observations is also characterized by a system of ruptures and faults trending EW and NS [Glukhmanchuk, 2004]. Maps of fault systems were obtained in [Glukhmanchuk, 2004] from seismic survey results on the basis of a detailed analysis of the strain eld structures. Major structure-controlling faults in the area of seismological observations are shown schematically in Fig. 5. The gure displays a geometric similarity between the distribution of deep sources of the noise seismic signal projected onto the horizontal plane (Fig. 12) and the conguration of faults in the area of observations (Fig. 5). Taking into account that the thickness of the sedimentary cover in the Middle Ob oil and gas bearing province, including the area studied, is 29003700 m [Sharifullina, 2004], we may suggest that seismic emission images in S waves obtained with adaptive spatial ltering give an idea of details of the faultfracture structure under the basement top and in the adjacent lower part of the sedimentary cover. As is known, scattering of both P and S waves by heterogeneities either longitudinal or transverse results in predominant remission into S waves [Sato and Fehler, 1998]. As a consequence, powerful anthropogenic sources create seismic illumination, which reveals zones of intense scattering of seismic emission just with the help of S waves. This can also

IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH

ELIMINATION OF HIGH-AMPLITUDE NOISE

1017

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work used experimental data obtained in the framework of the project Development of a Field Firmware Complex and Research Methods for Seismic Monitoring of Oil Bearing Deposits and other joint projects of the SSC and URIIT. We are grateful to P.B. Bortnikov and G.N. Erokhin, who provided us with a velocity structure typical of Western Siberia, as well as other geophysical data that were necessary for our work. The gures were prepared using the SeisCube5D-View system of 3-D visualization developed by A.Yu. Bezhaev (URIIT), who kindly afforded it to us; the SNDA (Seismic Network Data Analysis, SSC) and GMT (Generic Mapping Tool, University of Hawaii, United States) software packages were also used. REFERENCES
1. S. I. Aleksandrov and L. N. Rykunov, Noise Monitoring in Southern Iceland, Dokl. Akad. Nauk 326 (5), 808 810 (1992). 2. S. I. Aleksandrov and K. M. Mirzoev, Monitoring of Endogenous Microseismic Radiation in the Romashkino Oil Deposit Are, in Problems of Geomorphology, Ed. by A. V. Nikolaev (Nauka, Moscow, 1997), pp. 176188 [in Russian]. 3. S. I. Aleksandrov, G. N. Gogonenkov, and V. A. Mishin, Application of Passive Seismic Observations to Monitoring of Formation Hydrofracture Parameters, Neft. Khoz., No. 5 (2005). 4. K. Arnason and O. G. Flovenz, Evaluation of Physical Methods in Geothermal Exploration of Rifted Volcanic Crust, Geotherm. Res. Counc. 16, 207214 (1992). 5. J. Capon, High-Resolution Spatiotemporal Spectral Analysis, Proc. IEEE 57 (8), 6979 (1969). 6. B. Chouet, G. Saccorotti, P. Dawson, et al., Broadband Measurements of the Sources of Explosions at Stromboli Volcano, Italy, Geophys. Res. Lett. 26 (13), 19371940 (1999). 7. M. Furumoto, T. Kunitomo, H. Inoue, and K. Yamaoka, Seismic Image of the Volcanic Tremor Source at the Izu-Jshima Volcano, Japan, in The Volcanic Seismology, Ed. by P. Gasparini, R. Scarpa, and K. Aki. (Springer, New York, 1992), pp. 201211. 8. E. D. Glukhmanchuk, Detection, Mapping, and Classication of Fractured Reservoirs and Active Faults in a

9.

10.

11. 12.

13. 14. 15.

16.

17. 18.

19.

Sedimentary Sequence from Seismic and Other Geophysical Data (2004), pp. 1-4 (httr://www.uriit.ru/version/ru/content/page_571_0_353.html). Yu. A. Kugaenko, V. A. Saltykov, V. I. Sinitsyn, and V. N. Chebrov, Emission Tomography Application to the Localization of Seismic Noise Sources Associated with Hydrothermal Activity, Fiz. Zemli, No. 2, 6681 (2004) [Izvestiya, Phys. Solid Earth 40, 149162 (2004)]. A. F. Kushnir, Estimation of the Plane Wave Apparent Slowness Vector from Three-Component Seismic Array Data: A Statistical Problem with Noisy Parameters, in Computational Seismology (1997) Vol. 29, 215233 [in Russian]. A. F. Kushnir and S. V. Mostovoi, Statistical Analysis of Geophysical Fields (Naukova Dumka, Kiev, 1990) [in Russian]. A. F. Kushnir and V. M. Lapshin, Recognition and Identication of a Signal Waveform in Coda prole a Strong Interfering Event, Computational Seismology (1997) Vol. 29, 197214 (1997). A. V. Nikolaev, P. A. Troitskii, and I. Ya. Tchebotareva, Seismic Noise Application to the Study of the Lithosphere, Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 282 (9), 586591 (1986). H. Sato and M. C. Fehler, Seismic Wave Propagation and Scattering in the Heterogeneous Earth (Springer, New York, 1998). E. A. Sharifullina, Analysis of Development of Licensed Areas in the Middle Ob Oil-and-Gas Province under Conditions of the Contemporary Use of Mineral Resources, Extended Abstract of Cand. Sci. (Geol. Miner.) Dissertation, TyumGNGU, Tyumen, 2004, p. 20. B. M. Shubik and A. B. Ermakov, Automatic Determination of Coordinates and Occurrence Times of Seismic Events Based on the Principles of Emission Tomography, in Problems of Geothomography, Ed. by A. V. Nikolaev (Nauka, Moscow, 1997) [in Russian]. I. I. Tchebotareva and A. V. Nikolaev, Exploration of Crustal Heterogeneities Using Earthquake Codas, Dokl. Akad. Nauk 364 (6), 816820 (1998). I. I. Tchebotareva, A. V. Nikolaev, and H. Sato, Seismic Emission Activity of Earths Crust in Northern Kanto, Japan, Phys Earth Planet. Inter. 120 (3), 167182 (2000). J. Um and C. Thurber, A Fast Algorithm for Two-Point Seismic Ray Tracing, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 77 (3), 972986 (1987).

IZVESTIYA, PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH

Vol. 44

No. 12

2008