Two-dimensional nonlinear geophysical data filtering using the multidimensional EEMD method

• Multi-dimensional EEMD method is modified to implement a 2D nonlinear filter.
• Theoretical derivation, model studies, and field example are presented.
• Different methods are used for comparison.
• Abstruse mathematical concepts and terms are interpreted by intelligible wording.

A variety of two-dimensional (2D) empirical mode decomposition (EMD) methods have been proposed in the last decade. Furthermore, the multidimensional EMD algorithm and its parallel class, multivariate EMD (MEMD), are available in recent years. From those achievements, it is possible to design an efficient 2D nonlinear filter for geophysical data processing. We introduce a robust 2D nonlinear filter which can be applied to enhance the signal of 2D geophysical data or to highlight the feature component on an image. We did this by replacing the conventionally used smooth interpolation in the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) algorithm with a piecewise interpolation method. The one-dimensional (1D) EEMD procedures were consecutively performed in all directions, and then the comparable minimal scale combination technique was applied to the decomposed components. The theoretical derivation, model simulation, and real data applications are demonstrated in this paper. The proposed filtering method is effective in improving the image resolution by suppressing the random noise added in the simulation example and strong low frequency track corrugation noise bands with background noise in the field example. Furthermore, the algorithm can be easily extended to higher dimensions by repeating the same procedure in the succeeding dimension. To evaluate the proposed method, one data set is processed separately by using the enhanced analytic signal method and the multivariate EMD (MEMD) algorithm, and the results from these two methods are compared with that of the proposed method. A general equation for generating three-dimensional (3D) EEMD components based on the comparable minimal scale combination principle is derived for further applications.