Numerical Simulation of Bubble Plumes and an Analysis of Their Seismic Attributes

To study the bubble plume's seismic response characteristics,the model of a plume water body has been built in this article using the bubble-contained medium acoustic velocity model and the stochastic medium theory based on an analysis of both the acoustic characteristics of a bubble-contained water body and the actual features of a plume.The finite difference method is used for forward modelling,and the single-shot seismic record exhibits the characteristics of a scattered wave field generated by a plume.A meaningful conclusion is obtained by extracting seismic attributes from the pre-stack shot gather record of a plume.The values of the amplitude-related seismic attributes increase greatly as the bubble content goes up,and changes in bubble radius will not cause seismic attributes to change,which is primarily observed because the bubble content has a strong impact on the plume's acoustic velocity,while the bubble radius has a weak impact on the acoustic velocity.The above conclusion provides a theoretical reference for identifying hydrate plumes using seismic methods and contributes to further study on hydrate decomposition and migration,as well as on distribution of the methane bubble in seawater.

Further studies on the numerical simulation of bubble plumes in the cold seepage active region

Using the occurrence characteristics of bubble plumes in the South China Sea as a reference, this paper continues to study the seismic responses produced by bubble plumes in the cold seepage active region. To make the plume modelling scheme more reasonable, we modified the original modelling scheme and reconstructed a plume water body model based on the variation of its radius as bubbles rise in seawater. The plume seismic records of shot gathers were obtained by forward simulation. The seismic records of single shot show obvious characteristics of a scattering wave field and the periodic characteristics of the model. Seismic records of shot gathers were processed using prestack depth migration. The boundary of its imaging section has a good convergence effect. The migration sections can be imaged distinctly with higher accuracy. The aforementioned studies once again laid a foundation for the further study of the seismic responses produced by plumes. They also gradually probed a more suitable seismic data processing method for plumes and provided a theoretical guidance for the identification of plumes.

Numerical simulation of bubble plumes in overlying water of gas hydrate in the cold seepage active region

To study the seismic responses produced by gas hydrate bubble plumes in the cold seepage active region, we constructed a plume water body model based on random medium theory and acoustic velocity model of bubble medium. The plume water body model was forward simulated by finite difference. Seismic records of single shot show the scattered waves produced by the plume. The scattered wave energy is strong where the plume exists. Where the scattered wave energy is stronger, the minimum of travel time is always above the plume, which has no relationship with the shot's position. Seismic records of shot gathers were processed by prestack time migration. The migration section shows that the scattered waves produced by plumes can be imaged distinctly with higher accuracy. These researches laid a foundation for further study on the seismic responses produced by plumes and provided a new approach for the identification of gas hydrate.