Surface-related multiples (i.e., all seismic waves reflected at the
free surface at least once) often severely contaminate seismic recordings.
Because conventional imaging techniques require input data that consist
of primary reflections only, significant processing effort is commonly
dedicated to attenuating multiples prior to migration. On the other
hand, surface-related multiples provide additional illumination of
the subsurface and, therefore, should not be considered as noise.
We present a prestack depth-migration method that allows primary
and multiple reflections to be imaged simultaneously. Depth imaging
using primary and multiple reflections (DIPMR) involves decomposing
the datainto upgoing and downgoing wave constituents, followed by
downward extrapolation. Artifacts generated by interference of upgoing
and downgoing events not associated with the same subsurface reflection
points (crosstalk) are attenuated by using a 2D deconvolution imaging
condition. In contrast to existing methods, DIPMR does not require
a priori information about the source signature or directivity, because
the illuminating source wavefield is extracted directly from the
data themselves via the up/down separation. Moreover, there is no
need for elimination nor identification of multiples prior to migration.
By including surface-related multiples in the imaging procedure,
the effective source wavefield is stronger, the spatial aperture
is wider, and a higher vertical resolution is enabled through the
application of a deconvolution-based imaging condition.