Wavefront tomography with diffraction-only 3D P-cable data

P-cable data often do not allow model building by conventional methods because of an insufficient offset to target ratio. Diffractions, however, provide a tool for model building, even for Zero-Offset data. Here, we introduce a diffraction-based velocity analysis that provides seismic velocity information without the need of acquiring ocean bottom seismometer data. The diffraction based processing uses a multiparameter stacking operator which naturally enhances diffractions and at the same time generate kinematic wavefield attributes. These attributes together with the stack serve as input for a wavefront tomography and generate a depth velocity model in an automated fashion. An additional advantage of diffraction tomography is the scatter potential which yields a large area of illumination in the tomography compared to a pure reflection processing. The illuminated area is two to three times larger and more velocity information can be calculated from the same amount of data.