DERIVING TILT-CORRECTED SEISMIC DATA IN A MULTI-AXIS SEISMIC SENSOR MODULE

• US 20100195438A1
• Filed: 02/05/2009
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WesternGeco LLC
• Original Assignee: WesternGeco LLC
• Inventors: Goujon, Nicolas
• Granted Patent: US 8,199,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 367/43
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/18 Receiving elements, e.g. seismometer, geophone or torque detectors, for localised single point measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/36 Effecting static or dynamic corrections on records, e.g. correcting spread; Correlating seismic signals; Eliminating effects of unwanted energy
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 2210/32 Noise reduction

Abstract

A seismic sensor module includes sensing elements arranged in a plurality of axes to detect seismic signals in a plurality of respective directions, and a processor to receive data from the sensing elements and to determine inclinations of the axes with respect to a particular orientation. The determined inclinations are used to combine the data received from the sensing elements to derive tilt-corrected seismic data for the particular orientation.

Claims

1. A seismic sensor module, comprising:

sensing elements arranged in a plurality of axes to detect seismic signals in a plurality of respective directions; and

a processor to;

receive data from the sensing elements;

determine inclinations of the axes with respect to a particular orientation;

use the determined inclinations to combine the data received from the sensing elements to derive tilt-corrected seismic data for the particular orientation.

2. The seismic sensor module of claim 1, further comprising a telemetry module to send the tilt-corrected seismic data for the particular orientation in a single telemetry channel without sending seismic data in other orientations.

3. The seismic sensor module of claim 1, wherein the particular orientation comprises a vertical orientation.

4. The seismic sensor module of claim 1, wherein the processor combines the data received from the seismic sensing elements by using the determined inclinations to determine a noise leaked into a seismic signal along the particular orientation due to seismic signals propagating in other orientations.

5. The seismic sensor module of claim 4, wherein the particular orientation is a vertical orientation, and the other orientations are horizontal orientations.

6. The seismic sensor module of claim 1, wherein the sensing elements are accelerometers.

7. The seismic sensor module of claim 1, wherein the sensing elements are arranged in three orthogonal axes.

8. The seismic sensor module of claim 1, wherein the processor is to extract DC values of the seismic signals detected by the seismic sensing elements to determine the inclinations.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein recording the seismic signals by the plural seismic sensing elements comprises recording the seismic signals by plural accelerometers.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein rotating the recorded seismic signals to account for inclination with respect to a target orientation comprises rotating the recorded seismic signals to account for inclination with respect to a target azimuth of the seismic sensor module.

9. A method comprising:

recording seismic signals by plural seismic sensing elements arranged along plural axes;

rotating the recorded seismic signals to account for inclination with respect to a target orientation; and

sending the rotated seismic signal along the target orientation over a communications link without sending any other seismic signal in another orientation over the communications link.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein sending the rotated seismic signal along the target orientation over a communications link comprises sending a tilt-corrected vertical seismic signal over the communications link.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising removing noise from the tilt-corrected vertical seismic signal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein removing the noise from the tilt-corrected vertical seismic signal comprises removing noise caused by leakage of horizontal seismic signals into a seismic signal along a vertical orientation.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining inclinations of the seismic sensing elements with respect to a vertical orientation, wherein the rotating is based on the determined inclinations.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the inclinations of the seismic sensing elements with respect to the vertical orientation comprises extracting DC components of the recorded seismic signals.

17. A system to perform a subterranean survey, comprising:

a plurality of seismic sensor modules, wherein at least one of the seismic sensor modules comprises;

sensing elements arranged in a plurality of axes to detect seismic signals in a plurality of respective directions; and

a processor to;

receive data from the sensing elements;

determine inclinations of the axes with respect to a particular orientation;

use the determined inclinations to combine the data received from the sensing elements to derive tilt-corrected seismic data for the particular orientation.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one seismic sensor module further comprises a telemetry module to send the tilt-corrected seismic data for the particular orientation in a single telemetry channel without sending seismic data in other orientations.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the particular orientation comprises a vertical orientation.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor combines the data received from the seismic sensing elements by using the determined inclinations to determine a noise leaked into a seismic signal along the particular orientation due to seismic signals propagating in other orientations.