Computation of time-lapse differences with 3-D directional frames

We present an alternative method of extracting production related differences from time-lapse seismic data sets. Our method is not based on the actual subtraction of the two data sets, risking the enhancement of noise and introduction of artifacts due to local phase rotation and slightly misaligned events. Rather, it mutes events of the monitor survey with respect to the baseline survey based on the magnitudes of coefficients in a sparse and local atomic decomposition. Our technique is demonstrated to be an effective tool for enhancing the time-lapse signal from surveys which have been cross-equalized. \copyright2005 Society of Exploration Geophysicists