AccScience Publishing / JSE / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/JSE026180078
ARTICLE

Shallow marine seismic inversion strategy using air-gun secondary bubble signature

Jiho Ha1 Kyoungmin Lim2 Jungkyun Shin1*
Show Less
1 Pohang Research Branch, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Pohang, Republic of Korea
2 Department of Energy and Resources Engineering, National Korea Maritime & Ocean University, Busan, Republic of Korea
Received: 27 April 2026 | Revised: 2 June 2026 | Accepted: 4 June 2026 | Published online: 3 July 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

Seismic surveys in coastal and shallow waters have gained increasing importance due to the growing demand for marine infrastructure development, coastal ground stability assessment, and environmental monitoring. However, in coastal waters with depths of approximately 5–30 m, limitations such as restricted vessel operation, short offsets, and a lack of low-frequency components make it difficult to obtain reliable long wavelength velocity models. This study proposes a strategy to regenerate secondary bubble signals from an air-gun source—typically treated as components to be removed—as effective low-frequency information in shallow marine seismic data obtained using a portable air-gun/streamer system. Using deterministic deconvolution with the source wavelet, the primary reflections were separated from the raw data, and the residual between them was used to construct the secondary bubble–dominant dataset. The long wavelength velocity structure was then inverted using direct envelope reflection-based full waveform inversion (DE-RFWI). Application to field data acquired in the Yeongil Bay area of Pohang demonstrates that the proposed approach provides a more structurally consistent, long-wavelength velocity model compared with primary-based FWI, confirming that reliable velocity models can be obtained even under short-offset and low frequency-deficient conditions. This study offers a practical workflow that overcomes the inherent limitations of portable shallow marine seismic systems and enhances subsurface property modeling in coastal and transition zone environments.

Keywords
Shallow seismic survey
Coastal seismic survey
Secondary bubble
Low frequency
DE-RFWI
Long wavelength
Funding
This work was 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. We certify that the submission is original work and is not under review at any other publication.
References
  1. Monrigal O, de Jong I, Duarte H. An ultra-high-resolution 3D marine seismic system for detailed site investigation. Near Surf Geophys. 2017;15(4):335-345. doi: 10.3997/1873-0604.2017025

 

  1. Clare M, Chaytor J, Dabson O, et al. A consistent global approach for the morphometric characterization of subaqueous landslides. Geol Soc Spec Publ. 2018;477(1):455- 477. doi: 10.1144/sp477.15

 

  1. Faggetter MJ, Vardy ME, Dix JK, Bull JM, Henstock TJ. Time-lapse imaging using 3D ultra-high-frequency marine seismic reflection data. Geophysics. 2020;85(2):P13-P25. doi: 10.1190/geo2019-0258.1

 

  1. Tsai CC, Lin CH. Review and future perspective of geophysical methods applied in nearshore site characterization. J Mar Sci Eng. 2022;10(3):344. doi: 10.3390/jmse10030344

 

  1. Department of the Interior. Updated guidelines for providing geophysical, geotechnical, and geohazard information pursuant to 30 CFR Part 585. U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Accessed February 16, 2026. https://www.boem.gov/newsroom/notes-stakeholders/ updated-guidelines-providing-geophysical-geotechnical-and-geohazard

 

  1. Janowski Ł, Pydyn A, Popek M, Tysiąc P. Non-invasive investigation of a submerged medieval harbour, a case study from Puck Lagoon. J Archaeol Sci Rep. 2024;58:104717. doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104717

 

  1. Chun JH, Ha J, Shin J, Um IK. Development of shallow-water contourite deposits on the muddy continental shelf off southeastern Korea. Geo-Mar Lett. 2025;45(1):8. doi: 10.1007/s00367-024-00796-z

 

  1. Ha J, Shin J, Lim K, Um IK, Yi B. 3D UHR seismic and back-scattering analysis for seabed and ultra-shallow subsurface classification. Acta Geophys. 2025;73(2):1363-1376. doi: 10.1007/s11600-024-01423-2

 

  1. Markasioti BP, Kritikakis G, Antonios V, Papadopoulos N. Theodoulou T. Imaging Cultural Heritage in Very Shallow Nearshore Areas Using Seismic Refraction Tomography and Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves: A Synthetic and Real Data Study. Archaeol Prospect. 2026;33(1): 21–35. doi: 10.1002/arp.70007

 

  1. Shin J, Ha J, Jun H. Time-lapse imaging of shallow water coastal regions using a portable ultra-high-resolution 3D seismic survey system: a case study from offshore Pohang, South Korea. Acta Geophysica. 2025;73(1):479-493. doi: 10.1007/s11600-024-01405-4

 

  1. Bunks C, Saleck FM, Zaleski S, Chavent G. Multiscale seismic waveform inversion. Geophysics. 1995;60(5):1457- 1473. doi: 10.1190/1.1443880

 

  1. Shin C, Cha Y. Waveform inversion in the Laplace domain. Geophys J Int. 2008;173(3):922-931. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2008.03768.x

 

  1. Shin C, Cha Y. Waveform inversion in the Laplace-Fourier domain. Geophys J Int. 2009;177(3):1067-1079. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04102.x

 

  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. Wu R, Luo J, Wu B. Seismic envelope inversion and modulation signal model. Geophysics. 2014;79(3):WA13-WA24. doi: 10.1190/GEO2013-0294.1

 

  1. Ha J, Kim S, Koo N, et al. Full waveform inversion using a decomposed single frequency component from a spectrogram. J Appl Geophys. 2018;153:154-167. doi: 10.1016/j.jappgeo.2018.04.010

 

  1. Xiong K, Lumley D, Zhou W. Improved seismic envelope full-waveform inversion. Geophysics. 2023;88(4):R421-R437. doi: 10.1190/GEO2022-0444.1

 

  1. Hunter JA, Pullan SE. A vertical array method for shallow seismic refraction surveying of the sea floor. Geophysics. 1990;55(1):92-96. doi: 10.1190/1.1442775

 

  1. Vardy ME. Deriving shallow-water sediment properties using post-stack acoustic impedance inversion. Near Surf Geophys. 2015;13(2):143-154. doi: 10.3997/1873-0604.2014045

 

  1. Provenzano G, Vardy ME, Henstock TJ. Pre-stack full waveform inversion of ultra-high-frequency marine seismic reflection data. Geophys J Int. 2017;209(3):1593-1611. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggx114

 

  1. Provenzano G, Vardy ME, Henstock TJ. Decimetric-resolution stochastic inversion of shallow marine seismic reflection data: Dedicated strategy and application to a geohazard case study. Geophys J Int. 2018;214(3):1683-1700. doi: 10.1093/GJI/GGY221

 

  1. Xu S, Wang D, Chen F, Lambaré G, Zhang Y. Inversion on reflected seismic wave. In: Proceedings of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists International Exposition and 82nd Annual Meeting 2012. Society of Economic Geologists (SEG); 2012:2643-2649. doi: 10.1190/segam2012-1473.1

 

  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. Chen G, Chen S, Yang W. Reflection waveform inversion based on full-band seismic data reconstruction for salt structure inversion. Geophys J Int. 2020;220(1):235-247. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggz442

 

  1. Hu G, Xu W, He B, He W, Du Z, Yao J. DIW-based reflection full waveform inversion and its application of land seismic data. J Geophys Eng. 2023;20(6):1109-1116. doi: 10.1093/jge/gxad070

 

  1. Wang Y, Chi B, Dong L. Envelope normalized reflection waveform inversion. Geophys Prospect. 2025. doi: 10.1111/1365-2478.13598

 

  1. Qu Y, Dong S, Zhong T, Ren Y, Li Z, Xing B, et al. Cross-correlation reflection waveform inversion based on a weighted norm of the time-shift obtained by dynamic image warping. Geophys Prospect. 2025;73(3):910-922. doi: 10.1111/1365-2478.13599

 

  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: 10.1111/1365-2478.1296

 

  1. Wu S, Wang T, Cheng J. Second-order optimization for multiparameter reflection waveform inversion in acoustic VTI media. Geophys J Int. 2023;236(1):249-269. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggad406

 

  1. Wood LC, Heiser RC, Treitel S, Riley PL. The debubbling of marine source signatures. Geophysics. 1978;43(4):715-729. doi: 10.1190/1.1440848

 

  1. Parkes GE, Ziolkowski A, Hatton L, Haugland T. The signature of an air gun array: Computation from near-field measurements including interactions—Practical considerations. Geophysics. 1984;49(2):105-111. doi: 10.1190/1.1441640

 

  1. Bailey RC, Garces PB. On the theory of air-gun bubble interactions. Geophysics. 1988;53(2):192-200. doi: 10.1190/1.1442454

 

  1. Langhammer J, Landrø M, Martin J, Berg E. Air-gun bubble damping by a screen. Geophysics. 1995;60(6):1765-1772. doi: 10.1190/1.1443910

 

  1. Ziolkowski A. Measurement of air-gun bubble oscillations. Geophysics. 1998;63(6):2009-2024. doi: 10.1190/1.1444494

 

  1. Parkes G, Hatton L. The Marine Seismic Source. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer; 1986. doi: 10.1007/978-94-017-3385-4

 

  1. Avedik F, Renard V, Allenou JP, Morvan B. “Single bubble” air-gun array for deep exploration. Geophysics. 1993;58(3):366-382. doi: 10.1190/1.1443420

 

  1. Landrø M, Langhammer J, Martin J. Damping of secondary bubble oscillations for towed air guns with a screen. Geophysics. 1997;62(2):533-539. doi: 10.1190/1.1444163

 

  1. Caldwell J, Dragoset W. A brief overview of seismic air-gun arrays. Leading Edge. 2000;19(8):898-902. doi: 10.1190/1.1438744

 

  1. Li GF, Cao MQ, Chen HL, Ni CZ. Modeling air gun signatures in marine seismic exploration considering multiple physical factors. Appl Geophys. 2010;7(2):158-165. doi: 10.1007/s11770-010-0240-y

 

  1. Sargent C, Hobbs RW, Gröcke DR. Improving the interpretability of air-gun seismic reflection data using deterministic filters: A case history from offshore Cape Leeuwin, southwest Australia. Geophysics. 2011;76(3):B113-B125. doi: 10.1190/1.3554396

 

  1. Aleshkin, M. V. A Technique for Suppressing Bubble Oscillations from an Air Gun during Shallow-Water Marine Seismic Surveying. Mosc Univ Geol Bull. 2020;75(3):305–308. doi: 10.3103/S0145875220030023

 

  1. Zou Z, Zhang L. Enhancing low-frequency water-column acoustic reflections in marine multichannel seismic data for seismic oceanography. J Acoust Soc Am. 2021;150(5):3852- 3860. doi: 10.1121/10.0007278

 

  1. De Jonge T, Vinje V, Poole G, Hou S, Iversen E. De-bubbling Seismic Data using a Generalized Neural Network. Geophysics. 2021;87(1):V1-V14. doi: 10.1190/geo2021-0053.1

 

  1. Li Z, Zhou HW, Ma G, Cai D, Cao M. A study on bubble suppression for deep marine reflection data acquired by a small air-gun array. Geophys Prospect. 2024;72(2):378-389. doi: 10.1111/1365-2478.13410

 

  1. Madiligama M, Palamure PA, Zhang L. A survey of marine seismic acoustics: Water column imaging, environmental impacts, and de-bubbling. J Acoust Soc Am. 2025;158(3):2420-2447. doi: 10.1121/10.0039343

 

  1. Li G, Cao M, Chen H, Ni C. Modelling the signature of clustered air-guns and analysis on the directivity of an air-gun array. J Geophys Eng. 2011;8(1):92. doi: 10.1088/1742-2132/8/1/011

 

  1. Lim K, Chung W, Shin J, Ha J. Direct envelope-based reflection full waveform inversion for shallow marine seismic data. J Seismic Explor. 2026;35(2):026030005. doi: 10.36922/JSE026030005

 

  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. Seismic waveform inversion in the frequency domain: Part1, Theory and verification in a physical scale model. Geophysics. 1999;64(3):888-901. doi: 10.1190/1.1444597

 

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

 

  1. Wang F, Chauris H, Donno D. Calandra H. Taking Advantage of Wave Field Decomposition in Full Waveform Inversion. In: Proceedings of the 75th European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers Conference and Exhibition 2013 Incorporating SPE EUROPEC 2013. June 13, 2013; London, UK. EAGE Publications BV. doi: 10.3997/2214-4609.20130415

 

  1. Chi B, Dong L, Liu Y. Correlation-based reflection full-waveform inversion. Geophysics. 2015;80(4):R189-R202. doi: 10.1190/GEO2014-0345.1

 

  1. Wu RS, Chen GX. Multi-scale seismic envelope inversion using a direct envelope Frechet derivative for strong-nonlinear full waveform inversion. arXiv. Preprint posted online 2018. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.1808.05275

 

  1. Wu R. 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. 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):S237-244. doi: 10.1190/geo2015-0289.1

 

  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. Yoon S. Geology and paleontology of the Tertiary Pohang Basin, Pohang district, Korea. Part I: Geology. J Geol Soc Korea. 1975;11(4):187-214. doi: 10.14770/jgsk.1975.11.4.187

 

  1. Chough S, Hwang I, Choe M. The Miocene Doumsan fan-delta, Southeast Korea: A composite fan-delta system in back-arc margin. J Sediment Petrol. 1990;60(3):445-455. doi: 10.1306/212f91ba-2b24-11d7-8648000102c1865d

 

  1. Sohn Y, Son M. Synrift stratigraphic geometry in a transfer zone coarse-grained delta complex, Miocene Pohang Basin, SE Korea. Sedimentology. 2004;51(6):1387-1408. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3091.2004.00679.x

 

  1. Shinn Y, Kwon Y, Yoon J, Kim B, Cheong S. Result of CO₂ geological storage site survey for small-scale demonstration in Pohang Basin, Yeongil Bay, SE Korea. J Eng Geol. 2018;28(2):161-174. doi: 10.9720/kseg.2018.2.161

 

  1. Shin J, Ha J, Kang N, Kim H, Kim C. 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-xt

 

  1. Shin J, Ha J, Chun JH, Um IK. Field application of 3D CHIRP for geological surveys of shallow coastal regions. Mar Geophys Res. 2022;43(2):13. doi: 10.1007/s11001-022-09477-x

 

  1. Hamilton E. Vp/Vs and Poisson’s ratios in marine sediments and rocks. J Acoust Soc Am. 1979;66(4):1093-1101. doi: 10.1121/1.383344

 

  1. Schumann K, Stipp M, Behrmann JH, Klaeschen D, Schulte- Kortnack D. P- and S-wave velocity measurements of water-rich sediments from the Nankai Trough, Japan. J Geophys Res-sol Ea. 2014;119(2):787-805. doi: 10.1002/2013JB010290
Share
Back to top
Journal of Seismic Exploration, Electronic ISSN: 0963-0651 Print ISSN: 0963-0651, Published by AccScience Publishing