Phase estimation using the bispectrum

The information which is of importance in the reflection seismic method resides in the reflectivity series. In order to extract this information about the subsurface, the blurring effect of the seismic wavelet must first be removed. Since this signature is generally unknown, various wavelet estimation schemes have been developed. The one most currently used in the seismic industry is based on the assumption that the seismic wavelet has the minimum-phase property. This restrictive assumption is often incorrect. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of the bispectrum in order to obviate the minimum-phase requirement. Specifically, using synthetic examples, we develop and compare three different algorithms which determine the wavelet phase from the bispectrum of the reflection seismogram. An important aspect of the problem not treated before is the application of the bispectral technique to band-limited data.