Seismic attenuation estimation using a complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition-based method

•Seismic attenuation estimated by the CEEMD-based method is studied.•CEEMD and HT and least-squares fitting are adopted in the proposed method.•The correlation weighted average is used for highlighting some useful details.•The application in tight sandstone reservoir shows the effectiveness.•The proposed method has better effects than the other conventional methods.

The frequency attenuation gradient method can provide important information for hydrocarbon detection. In this paper, a method using Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (CEEMD), Hilbert transform and the least-squares curve-fitting is proposed for seismic attenuation estimation as an effective frequency attenuation gradient estimation approach. We first use CEEMD to obtain the different Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs), which have a narrow band and can enhance the physical meaning of instantaneous attributes trace by trace. The time-frequency spectrum, which is computed using a Hilbert transform of each IMF, is represented as a spectrum with a single-peak that has narrow side lobes, which is conducive to frequency attenuation gradient estimation. Second, for each time sample, the frequency-amplitude spectrum of each IMF trace is extracted from the time-frequency spectrum to conduct the attenuation gradient computation. Then, the logarithm operation is performed for each IMF trace. Due to the very narrow bands of some IMFs in some seismic traces, a variable frequency window is adopted along the IMF trace according to the local data characteristics. Finally, the attenuation gradient for each IMF in a seismic trace can be computed using least-squares fitting. A different IMF reflects a seismic trace with a different spatiotemporal scale and can highlight different geologic and stratigraphic information. The correlation weighted average operation is used to highlight some useful details in seismic trace and obtains the attenuation gradient for each seismic trace. Field data examples demonstrate our method and its effectiveness. The proposed method can stably estimate the frequency attenuation gradient.