System and method for full waveform inversion of seismic data with reduced computational cost

1. A computer-implemented method of seismic inversion, comprising:

a. receiving, at a computer processor, a processed seismic image and an enhanced seismic image representative of a subsurface volume of interest;

b. forward modeling, via the computer processor, the processed seismic image and the enhanced seismic image to generate a first modeled dataset and a second modeled dataset;

c. differencing, via the computer processor, the first modeled dataset and the second modeled dataset to create a residual dataset;

d. filtering, via the computer processor, the first modeled dataset to generate an approximation of illumination;

e. preconditioning, via the computer processor, the residual dataset with the approximation of illumination to generate an adjoint source;

f. back projecting, via the computer processor, the adjoint source to determine a model update; and

g. applying the model update to an earth model of the subsurface volume of interest.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the earth model for seismic imaging.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the approximation of illumination is an approximation of a Hessian matrix.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising repeating steps b-g until the residual dataset contains values below a threshold wherein the threshold may be a user-supplied parameter or determined by the computer processor.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the subsurface volume of interest includes regions of poor seismic illumination.

6. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the system to:

a. receive, at the one or more processors, a processed seismic image and an enhanced seismic image representative of a subsurface volume of interest;

b. forward model, via the one or more processors, the processed seismic image and the enhanced seismic image to generate a first modeled dataset and a second modeled dataset;

c. difference, via the one or more processors, the first modeled dataset and the second modeled dataset to create a residual dataset;

d. filter, via the one or more processors, the first modeled dataset to generate an approximation of illumination;

e. precondition, via the one or more processors, the residual dataset with the approximation of illumination to generate an adjoint source;

f. back project, via the one or more processors, the adjoint source to determine a model update; and

g. apply the model update to an earth model of the subsurface volume of interest.

7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by an electronic device with one or more processors and memory, cause the device to:

a. receive, at the one or more processors, a processed seismic image and an enhanced seismic image representative of a subsurface volume of interest;

b. forward model, via the one or more processors, the processed seismic image and the enhanced seismic image to generate a first modeled dataset and a second modeled dataset;

c. difference, via the one or more processors, the first modeled dataset and the second modeled dataset to create a residual dataset;

d. filter, via the one or more processors, the first modeled dataset to generate an approximation of illumination;

e. precondition, via the one or more processors, the residual dataset with the approximation of illumination to generate an adjoint source;

f. back project, via the one or more processors, the adjoint source to determine a model update; and

g. apply the model update to an earth model of the subsurface volume of interest.