Borehole seismic data processing and interpretation: New free software

Vertical Seismic Profile (VSP) surveying is a vital tool in subsurface imaging and reservoir characterization. The technique allows geophysicists to infer critical information that cannot be obtained otherwise. MVSP is a new MATLAB tool with a graphical user interface (GUI) for VSP shot modeling, data processing, and interpretation. The software handles VSP data from the loading and preprocessing stages to the final stage of corridor plotting and integration with well and seismic data. Several seismic and signal processing toolboxes are integrated and modified to suit and enrich the processing and display packages. The main motivation behind the development of the software is to provide new geoscientists and students in the geoscience fields with free software that brings together all VSP modules in one easy-to-use package. The software has several modules that allow the user to test, process, compare, visualize, and produce publication-quality results. The software is developed as a stand-alone MATLAB application that requires only MATLAB Compiler Runtime (MCR) to run with full functionality. We present a detailed description of MVSP and use the software to create synthetic VSP data. The data are then processed using different available tools. Next, real data are loaded and fully processed using the software. The data are then integrated with well data for more detailed analysis and interpretation. In order to evaluate the software processing flow accuracy, the same data are processed using commercial software. Comparison of the processing results shows that MVSP is able to process VSP data as efficiently as commercial software packages currently used in industry, and provides similar high-quality processed data.