Imaging by forward propagating the data - Theory and application

In conventional acoustic media based imaging the source wavefield is correlated with the adjoint of the receive wavefield. This requires an estimation of the source and does not image surface multiples in smooth velocity models. Forward propagating the data instead of the source, despite the potential crosstalk, results in comparable images at no additional cost. It also relieves us from the need to estimate the source for the forward problem. The recorded source wavefield embedded in the data given by the direct arrivals has the potential, as well, to provide a more accurate account of the source and the near surface effects. In addition, extracting the direct arrivals from the recorded data is much easier than extracting the primaries needed to image multiples. We show some of these features on the Marmousi dataset, and the results are promising.