Description:

Seismic attenuation is a very useful property to detect the presence of fluids in seismic data. The techniques for modelling attenuation as well as the strategies for estimating attenuation are still largely evolving. The objective of the workshop is to review the recent advances in this field at the exploration scale and to invite researchers from both the modelling and imaging sides.

The three main aspects addressed during the workshop could be organised as follows:

1. How to model attenuation? Behind the generic Q-model, there are a number of different theoretical and physical approaches to model the effect of attenuation. Is there a consensus for applications at the exploration scale? What should be the dependency over frequency? Is there any consistency between attenuation at the lab scale and at 10 Hz? Should we prefer the time or frequency domains for modelling waves in visco-acoustic / visco-elastic media? 
   
   
2. For the inversion side to retrieve attenuation, what is the input data (e.g. amplitude decay, frequency shift, full wave field recorded at the receiver position)? What are the associated objective functions (e.g. data domain least-squares misfit, image domain methods, …)? What are the model parameters (e.g. can we neglect Qs if we consider surface waves)? Attenuation is not the only model parameter, and Vp should also be estimated. How do we handle the multi-parameter inversion and ambiguity between velocity and attenuation perturbations? Are there some recommendations to split the model into a macro-model and a reflectivity model and to estimate the two models in a tomography and migration mode, respectively? Is there a gap like for seismic velocities at intermediate scale? Can we distinguish between intrinsic and scattering attenuation?
   
   
3. Finally, we would like to invite people to present case studies and to discuss the practical aspects, including the pre-processing steps for successful attenuation estimations.We would like to conclude the workshop on the value of attenuation and on the new acquisition techniques to be developed in the future for facilitating the estimation of attenuation.

Workshop format: 

Presentations followed by discussions. 

Who should attend: 

Researchers interested in attenuation modelling and in seismic imaging