Seismic attenuation qualitative characterizing method based on adaptive optimal-kernel time-frequency representation

► We investigate AOKTFR which has good time-frequency resolution. ► High frequency component attenuations faster than low frequency components. ► Seismic attenuation qualitative characterizing method based on AOKTFR is proposed. ► The real-data example show proposed method can characterize seismic attenuation. ► The attenuated anomaly can be used as a possible indicator of gas reservoir.