US Patent 9766357 Seismic image dip decomposition estimation and recomposition

Method for optimal stacking of seismic images to remove noise and enhance signals in seismic images (101) outputted from a Reverse Time Migration (RTM) imaging process. Dip information is calculated (102) and then sorted by image point (104), for each seismic image to be stacked. A dominant dip and azimuth is determined at each image point (106), and only those events are stacked (107). If the image is still noisy or lacking in detail (108), the process may be iterated (109) to improve the selection of most likely dip and azimuth.