1.4 Diffraction imaging and resolution

Seismic resolution and Diffraction imaging have a direct relationship to each other, while the frequency of the seismic wave also affects seismic image, a high frequency providing a high resolution image. The relationship between seismic wave frequency and resolution, wavelength, penetration, and hyperbolic diffraction curve is shown in Table 1 [17, 18].

The resolution of seismic data is typically around λ/4, which means that high frequency waves illuminate a small object; however, as the increase in frequency will also affect penetration depth, it is usually defined by the purpose of the research. Seismic surveys typically use lower frequencies for subsurface imaging. As a result, seismic images have a slightly lower resolution (λ=4 to λ=8 dependent on data quality) but a deeper penetration (10 km) than those produced by biomedical imaging, requiring a lower depth of penetration (in feet) but higher resolution on the acquired frequency of the data.
