Internal multiple elimination: Can we trust an acoustic approximation?

Correct handling of strong elastic internal multiples remains a challenge for seismic imaging. Methods aimed at eliminating them are currently limited by monotonicity violations, a lack of a-priori knowledge about mode conversions, or unavailability of multicomponent sources and receivers for not only particle velocities but also the traction vector. Most of these challenges vanish in acoustic media such that Marchenko-equation-based methods are able, in theory. to remove multiples exactly (within a certain wave-number-frequency band). In practice, however, when applied to (elastic) field data, mode conversions are unaccounted for. Aiming to support a recently published marine field data study, we build a representative synthetic model. For this setting. we demonstrate that mode conversions can have a substantial impact on the recovered multiple-free reflection response. Nevertheless, the images are significantly improved by acoustic multiple elimination. Moreover, after migration the imprint of elastic effects is considerably weaker and unlikely to alter the seismic interpretation.