3D fictitious wave domain CSEM inversion by adjoint source estimation

Abstract: Marine controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) method has proved its potential in detecting highly resistive hydrocarbon bearing formations. A novel frequency domain CSEM inversion approach using fictitious wave domain time stepping modelling is presented. Using Lagrangian-based adjoint state method, the inversion gradient with respect to resistivity can be computed by the product between the forward and adjoint fields. Simulation of the adjoint field using the same modelling engine is challenging as it requires time domain adjoint source time functions while only a few discrete frequencies of the data residual are available for the inversion. A regularized linear inverse problem is formulated in order to estimate a long time series from very few frequency samples. It can then be solved using linear optimization technique, yielding a matrix-free implementation. Instead of computing adjoint source time function one by one at each receiver location, a basis function implementation has been developed such that the inverse problem can be solved only once and reused every time to construct all time-domain adjoint sources. The method allows computing all frequencies of the EM fields in one go without heavy memory and computational overhead, making efficient 3D CSEM inversion feasible. Numerical examples are employed to demonstrate the application of our method.