• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.41-53
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• 2018

In the traditional seismic processing, multiple reflections are treated as noise and therefore they are eliminated during data processing. Recently, however, many studies have begun to consider multiples as signals rather than noise for seismic imaging. Multiple reflections can illuminate an area where primary reflections are not able to cover, thus it is allowed that a smaller number of shots and receivers are used for imaging large areas. In order to verify this, surface-related multiples were used for reverse-time migration (RTM), and then we compared the results with conventional RTM images which are generated from primary reflections. To utilize multiples, we separated multiples from whole seismic data using surface-related multiple elimination (SRME) method. Numerical examples confirmed that the migration using multiples can image wider area than the conventional migration, particularly in the shallow subsurface layers. In addition, the migration of multiples could eliminate the acquisition footprints.