AccScience Publishing / JSE / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/JSE026030005
Cite this article
27
Download
194
Views
Journal Browser
Volume | Year
Issue
Search
News and Announcements
View All
ARTICLE

Direct envelope-based reflection full waveform inversion for shallow marine seismic data

Kyoungmin Lim1 Wookeen Chung1 Jungkyun Shin2 Jiho Ha2*
Show Less
1 Department of Energy and Resources Engineering, National Korea Maritime & Ocean University, Busan, Republic of Korea
2 Pohang Research Branch, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Pohang, Republic of Korea
JSE 2026, 35(2), 026030005 https://doi.org/10.36922/JSE026030005
Submitted: 14 January 2026 | Revised: 25 February 2026 | Accepted: 9 March 2026 | Published: 27 March 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Accurate velocity models that include long-wavelength components are required for precise subsurface structure imaging and estimation of geophysical properties. To successfully build the long-wavelength velocity using full waveform inversion (FWI), sufficient offset and low-frequency components are necessary. However, due to the limited acquisition conditions, it is difficult to operate long offset and low-frequency sources in coastal shallow marine. Short offset makes the data dominated by reflections, and FWI intensively updates the surface boundaries. Although reflection full waveform inversion (RFWI) has been proposed to reconstruct long-wavelength velocity models using reflection data, it suffers from cycle skipping when low-frequency component is insufficient. To overcome these limitations, we propose a direct envelope-based RFWI (DE-RFWI) that incorporates the direct envelope into the RFWI. By employing envelope-based energy information from reflection data, DE-RFWI facilitates the reconstruction of long-wavelength velocity. The proposed method employs the Hilbert transform-based implicit gradient decomposition technique to address additional computational cost. To verify the proposed method, DE-RFWI was applied to synthetic test with a shallow marine condition and field data acquired in Yeongil Bay, South Korea. The inversion results for field data were evaluated by analyzing arrival-time alignment in envelope domain. The results demonstrate that DE-RFWI can reliably reconstruct long-wavelength velocity models in shallow marine seismic data and improve reflector continuity and resolution in the reverse time migration imaging.

Keywords
Long-wavelength velocity model
Shallow marine seismic
Short offset
Reflection full waveform inversion
Direct envelope
Funding
This work was supported by the Basic Research Project “Development of operation management infrastructure for TAMHAE3 and seamless seismic technology connecting coastal areas (26-3322)” of the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest or competing interests.
References
[1]
  1. Prager BT, Caughey DA, Poeckert RH. Bottom classification: operational results from QTC VIEW. In: Proceedings of the Challenges of Our Changing Global Environment. OCEANS ‘95 MTS/IEEE; October 9-12, 1995; San Diego, CA, USA. 1995;3:1827-1835. doi: 10.1109/OCEANS.1995.528859

 

  1. Mair E, Parnum I, Schut T. Using multibeam echo-sounder backscatter to characterise the seafloor of Davis Harbour, Antarctica: Preliminary results. In: Proceedings of the Acoustics 2012 – Fremantle: Acoustics, Development, and the Environment. The 2012 Conference of the Australian Acoustical Society; November 21-23, 2012; Fremantle, Australia. Australian Acoustical Society; 2012.

 

  1. Viala C, Lamouret M, Abadie A. Seafloor classification using a multibeam echo sounder: A new rugosity index coupled with a pixel-based process to map Mediterranean marine habitats. Appl Acoust. 2021;179:108067. doi: 10.1016/j.apacoust.2021.108067

 

  1. Brookshire BN Jr, Landers FP, Stein JA. Applicability of ultra-high-resolution 3D seismic data for geohazard identification at mid-slope depths in the Gulf of Mexico: Initial results. Underw Technol. 2015;32(4):271-278. doi: 10.3723/ut.32.271

 

  1. Shin J, Ha J, Kang NK, Kim HD, Kim CS. Development of a portable 3D seismic survey system for nearshore surveys and the first case study offshore Pohang, South Korea. Mar Geophys Res. 2021;42(4):34. doi: 10.1007/s11001-021-09453-x

 

  1. Luo Y, Schuster GT. Wave-equation traveltime inversion. Geophysics. 1991;56(5):645-653. doi: 10.1190/1.1443081

 

  1. Zelt CA, Smith RB. Seismic traveltime inversion for 2-D crustal velocity structure. Geophys J Int. 1992;108(1):16-34. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1992.tb00836.x

 

  1. Ravaut C, Operto S, Improta L, Virieux J, Herrero A, Dell’Aversana P. Multiscale imaging of complex structures from multifold wide-aperture seismic data by frequencydomain full-waveform tomography: application to a thrust belt. Geophys J Int. 2004;159(3):1032-1056. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246x.2004.02442.x

 

  1. Pichot T, Delescluse M, Chamot-Rooke N, et al. Deep crustal structure of the conjugate margins of the SW South China Sea from wide-angle refraction seismic data. Mar Pet Geol. 2014;58:627-643. doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2013.10.008

 

  1. Mora P. Inversion = migration + tomography. Geophysics. 1989;54(12):1575-1586. doi: 10.1190/1.1442625

 

  1. Virieux J, Operto S. An overview of full-waveform inversion in exploration geophysics. Geophysics. 2009;74(6):WCC1-WCC26. doi: 10.1190/1.3238367

 

  1. Zhou W, Brossier R, Operto S, Virieux J. Full waveform inversion of diving and reflected waves for velocity model building with impedance inversion based on scale separation. Geophys J Int. 2015;202(3):1535-1554. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggv228

 

  1. Xu S, Wang D, Chen F, Lambare G, Zhang Y. Inversion on Reflected Seismic Wave. In: Proceedings of the SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2012. 82th SEG Annual International Meeting; November 4-9, 2012; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Society of Exploration Geophysicists; 2012:1-7. doi: 10.1190/segam2012-1473.1

 

  1. Tang Y, Lee S, Baumstein A, Hinkley D. Tomographically enhanced full wavefield inversion. In: Proceedings of the SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2013. 83th SEG Annual International Meeting; September 22-27, 2013; Houston, Texas, USA. Society of Exploration Geophysicists; 2013:1037-1041. doi: 10.1190/segam2013-1145.1

 

  1. Alkhalifah T. Scattering-angle based filtering of the waveform inversion gradients. Geophys J Int. 2015;200(1):363-373. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggu379

 

  1. Wang F, Donno D, Chauris H, Calandra H, Audebert F. Waveform inversion based on wavefield decomposition. Geophysics. 2016;81(6):R457-R470. doi: 10.1190/geo2015-0340.1

 

  1. Yao G, da Silva NV, Warner M, Kalinicheva T. Separation of Migration and Tomography Modes of Full-Waveform Inversion in the Plane Wave Domain. J Geophys Res Solid Earth. 2018;123(2):1486-1501. doi: 10.1002/2017jb015207

 

  1. Guo Q, Alkhalifah T. Elastic reflection-based waveform inversion with a nonlinear approach. Geophysics. 2017;82(6):R309-R321. doi: 10.1190/geo2016-0407.1

 

  1. Li Y, Alkhalifah T. Multi-parameter reflection waveform inversion for acoustic transversely isotropic media with a vertical symmetry axis. Geophys Prospect. 2020;68(6):1878-1892. doi: 10.1111/1365-2478.12966

 

  1. Wu S, Wang T, Cheng J. Second-order optimization for multiparameter reflection waveform inversion in acoustic VTI media. Geophys J Int. 2024;236(1):249-269. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggad406

 

  1. Song C, Alkhalifah T. A reflection-based efficient wavefield inversion. Geophysics. 2021;86(4):R497-R508. doi: 10.1190/geo2019-0664.1

 

  1. Wang T, Cheng J, Geng J. Reflection full waveform inversion with second-order optimization using the adjoint-state method. J Geophys Res Solid Earth. 2021;126(8):e2021. doi: 10.1029/2021jb022135

 

  1. Xu W, Hu G, He B, Du Z. Seismic reflection waveform inversion based on Gauss–Newton optimization. J Geophys Eng. 2022;19(4):846-862. doi: 10.1093/jge/gxac053

 

  1. Xu S, Chen F, Lambare G, Zhang Y. Full waveform inversion of reflected seismic data. J Seism Explor. 2013;22(5):449-462.

 

  1. Wang S, Chen F, Zhang H, Shen Y. Reflection-based full waveform inversion (RFWI) in the frequency domain. In: Proceedings of the SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2013. 83th SEG Annual International Meeting; September 22-27, 2013; Houston, Texas, USA. Society of Exploration Geophysicists; 2013:877-881. doi: 10.1190/segam2013-0671.1

 

  1. Wang P, Zhang Z, Wei Z, Huang R. A demigration-based reflection full-waveform inversion workflow. In: Proceedings of the SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2018. 88th SEG Annual International Meeting; October 14-19, 2018; Anaheim, California, USA. Society of Exploration Geophysicists; 2018:1138-1142. doi: 10.1190/segam2018-2997404.1

 

  1. Yao G, Wu D, Wang SX. A review on reflection-waveform inversion. Pet Sci. 2020;17(2):334-351. doi: 10.1007/s12182-020-00431-3

 

  1. Chi B, Dong L, Liu Y. Correlation-based reflection fullwaveform inversion. Geophysics. 2015;80(4):R189-R202. doi: 10.1190/geo2014-0345.1

 

  1. Chen G, Wu R, Chen S. Reflection multi-scale envelope inversion. Geophys Prospect. 2018;66(7):1258-1271. doi: 10.1111/1365-2478.12624

 

  1. Wang Y, Chi B, Dong L. Envelope normalized reflection waveform inversion. Geophys Prospect. 2024;73(3):895-909. doi: 10.1111/1365-2478.13598

 

  1. Wu RS, Chen GX. Multi-scale seismic envelope inversion using a direct envelope Frechet derivative for strongnonlinear full waveform inversion. arXiv. Preprint posted online August 15, 2018. Accessed March 19, 2026. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.1808.05275

 

  1. Chen GX, Wu RS, Chen SC. Multiscale Direct Envelope Inversion: Algorithm and Methodology for Application to the Salt Structure Inversion. Earth Space Sci. 2019;6(1):174-190. doi: 10.1029/2018EA000453

 

  1. Luo J, Wu RS, Chen G. Angle domain direct envelope inversion method for strong scattering velocity and density estimation. IEEE Geosci Remote Sens Lett. 2020;17(9):1508-1512. doi: 10.1109/LGRS.2019.2950471

 

  1. Lee D, Kang SG, Kim S, Kim YS, Chung W. Efficient direct envelope inversion with excitation amplitude for strong velocity contrast model. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens. 2024;62:1-12. doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2024.3422978

 

  1. Lian S, Yuan S, Wang G, Liu T, Liu Y, Wang S. Enhancing low-wavenumber components of full-waveform inversion using an improved wavefield decomposition method in the time-space domain. J Appl Geophys. 2018;157:10-22. doi: 10.1016/j.jappgeo.2018.06.013

 

  1. Jun H. Frequency-domain reflection-based full waveform inversion for short-offset seismic data. J Appl Geophys. 2019;164:106-116. doi: 10.1016/j.jappgeo.2019.03.010

 

  1. Wu Z, Alkhalifah T. Simultaneous inversion of the background velocity and the perturbation in full-waveform inversion. Geophysics. 2015;80(6):R317-R329. doi: 10.1190/geo2014-0365.1

 

  1. Tarantola A. Inversion of seismic reflection data in the acoustic approximation. Geophysics. 1984;49(8):1259-1266. doi: 10.1190/1.1441754

 

  1. Pratt RG, Shin C, Hicks GJ. Gauss-Newton and full Newton methods in frequency-space seismic waveform inversion. Geophys J Int. 1998;133(2):341-362. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-246x.1998.00498.x

 

  1. Hu LZ, McMechan GA. Wave-field transformations of vertical seismic profiles. Geophysics. 1987;52(3):307-321. doi: 10.1190/1.1442305

 

  1. Fei TW, Luo Y, Yang J, Liu H, Qin F. Removing false images in reverse time migration: The concept of de-primary. Geophysics. 2015;80(6):S237-S244. doi: 10.1190/geo2015-0289.1

 

  1. Wu RS. Multiple scattering and energy transfer of seismic waves — separation of scattering effect from intrinsic attenuation — I. Theoretical modelling. Geophys J Int. 1985;82(1):57-80. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1985.tb05128.x

 

  1. Ha J, Shin J, Lim K, Um IK, Yi B. 3D UHR seismic and backscattering analysis for seabed and ultra-shallow subsurface classification. Acta Geophys. 2024;73(2):1363-1376. doi: 10.1007/s11600-024-01423-2
Share
Back to top
Journal of Seismic Exploration, Print ISSN: 0963-0651, Published by AccScience Publishing