This paper introduces and discusses a new polarization filter which can aid interpretation of single or multichannel multicomponent seismograms. We define a measure of degree of polarization based on instantaneous polarization attributes of analytic traces. Computation of the data eigenstructure is not required and the measure can be used in combination with its spatial coherence to enhance polarized signals on seismic record sections. Our approach avoids suppressing signals with spatially changing characteristics such as happens in the transition to post-critical reflections or for reflections from laterally varying interfaces. The simplicity of the method permits the filter to be tailored to various data characteristics and the concept can be applied to cross-energy methods. We also show that non-linear amplification of rectilinearity and planarity weight functions in time-domain principal-component filters permits the size of data windows to be decreased, improving resolution and suppressing noise.

This research has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport through grant SB2000-0120 and by a Marie Curie Fellowship of the European Community programme IHP (HPMF-CT-2001-01322).

Peer reviewed