Overview on anisotropic modeling and inversion

This note provides an overview on strategies for modeling and inversion with the anisotropic wave equation. Since linear and non-linear inversion methods like least squares RTM and Full Waveform Inversion depend on matching observed field data with synthetically modelled data, accounting for anisotropy effects is necessary in order to accurately match waveforms at long offsets and propagation times. In this note, the two main strategies for anisotropic modelling by solving either a pseudo acoustic wave equation or a pure quasi-P-wave equation are discussed and an inversion workflow using the pure quasi-P-wave equation is provided. In particular, we derive the exact adjoint of the anisotropic forward modelling and jacobian operator and give a detailled describtion of their implementation. The anistropic FWI workflow is tested on a sythetic data example.