Mathematical Morphological Filters and Applications in Seismic Data Denoising

Summary Mathematical morphological filtering (MMF) is a powerful tool for image processing based on the shape of the structure element (SE). It was introduced into seismic data processing to suppress noise and enhance signal quality. We explain the basic mathematic morphology concepts with set theory and define the basic and advanced morphological operations in seismic data processing. Unlike conventional seismic filtering techniques, MMF is a nonlinear operator so that it can more effectively isolate and attenuate seismic noise based on their shape differences from the signal. We apply different types of morphological filter on field (and various stages of processed) data to demonstrate their effectiveness for suppression of both coherent and incoherent noise and results in an improvement of signal to noise ratio.